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The President Game 
Limited Series 

The Flower: Ep. 4
An unexpected friendship begins to bloom during the publicity stunt. Election results come out and Irene realizes she will miss the company of her new friend.

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irene felt eyes on her and she glanced across the gymnasium, accidentally making eye contact with seulgi who already had a smirk on her face. she quickly looked back down at her hands, pretending to be interested in her fingernails. 

just great. she thought to herself. the school rarely ever combined gym classes so she never had to coexist with seulgi in a class, but today the teachers decided it would be a good idea to combine the classes for a special dance lesson. she just prayed she would get partnered up with anyone except for her. 

“please find somebody and pair up in twos.” the teacher said, clapping his hands and the students immediately started moving around to find their friends. irene stood awkwardly, looking around and she felt a wave of relief when she spotted yongsun, her friend in the class who she would usually pair up with. 

“yongsun! let’s pair up.” she said, hurrying up to her. 

“sorry irene, i already agreed to go with byulyi!” yongsun apologised. “but don’t you want to go with seulgi?” she asked while she got dragged away to stand at the front with the rest of the paired up students. 

irene groaned, turning to look for a different person but everyone she walked up to would pair up with a different person and no one seemed to want to take initiative to ask her. like yongsun, they probably all assumed the same thing. 

there was basically no one left in the middle of the gymnasium and irene turned back around to see seulgi walk up to her with a charming but irritating smile on her face.

“looks like we’re partners, honey bun.”

“i told you not to call me that.” irene hissed, leaning in so that others wouldn’t hear the annoyance in her tone. ever since seulgi saw her eat a honey bun at lunch a few days ago, she had not stopped calling her by the new nickname and she seemed to like it even more when irene got flustered by it. 

“come on, partner.” seulgi grinned, ignoring her protest and pulling a very reluctant irene by the arm. 

irene wondered once again whether it was a huge mistake to accept seulgi’s proposition because now she always had to be around her and she still felt uneasy around her. she wasn’t sure if it was because seulgi was too confident and flirty, or because seulgi seemed to have hidden intentions behind every word and every stare. 

“you can follow mr lee and i’ll follow mrs kim.” seulgi said, placing her left hand on irene’s shoulder. irene looked up at her, confused, because she had assumed seulgi would take the male dance partner role due to her being slightly taller. 

“why?”

“because i like it when you drag me around.” seulgi smirked at her and irene’s cheeks burned up from both the intensity of seulgi’s stare and the mischievous smile. 

“shut up.” she muttered, keeping her gaze lowered and she just fixed her eyes on the collar of seulgi’s shirt to prevent any awkward eye contact. she felt her heart beating faster as she held seulgi’s hand with her left and placed her right on seulgi’s back, but only very lightly so she was barely touching her. 

seulgi noticed and snickered, “you can touch me, i won’t bite.” she said. “unless you want me to.” she winced when irene stepped on her foot and suspected it was intentional. 

“i think this would work a lot better if you keep your mouth closed.” irene said, glaring up at her and seulgi obediently kept her lips together although the corners turned up in a smile. 

their steps were clumsy and offbeat at the start but as irene focused her thoughts better on the waltz, she was able to find the rhythm to step in sync with seulgi. she was surprised at how light seulgi was on her feet, how easily she picked up the dance, and it soon felt like seulgi was the one leading instead.

irene made the mistake of looking up after they fell into an easy rhythm of moving together and she felt her breath hitch at the sight of seulgi’s gaze. irene remembered how the first few times she interacted with seulgi, she found those dark eyes empty like they were void of any emotion. but with the sunlight through the windows hitting her face at just the right angle, irene could see flecks of gold in her eyes that sparkled with every movement and for that moment, her gaze could almost be described as gentle. 

it was a contrast to the usual intense and empty stares she held, and irene found herself mesmerized by staring into her eyes. 

“careful now.” seulgi murmured and irene blinked, still staring. “don’t fall in love with me.”

irene blinked again and finally tore her gaze away, scoffing. “in your dreams.” 

seulgi laughed softly and irene’s heart skipped a beat. it was the first time she had heard seulgi laugh so genuinely and lightheartedly. 

cute. she thought immediately. 

she was appalled by herself for thinking that and pushed seulgi away as soon as the music ended. 

>>

irene was all they talked about for the whole week. whether it was about her election campaign or about her and seulgi, she was part of everyone’s conversation. 

she had to admit, seulgi was right about it being an effective way to win votes. people couldn’t get enough of ‘seulrene’ and irene’s reputation had never been better. she was treated like a celebrity more than ever and she was pretty sure seulgi had been spreading word about how she would be ‘absolutely delighted if her girlfriend won the election’. 

of course, in order to keep the ‘fans’ convinced that they were really an item, seulgi found every opportunity to be by irene’s side. she also grew more daring with the physical contact. at first it was putting her arm around her shoulders, then it was linking arms, until it progressed to them holding hands at every possible moment. 

at first, irene tried to avoid it, whispering in seulgi’s ear that it wasn’t necessary but seulgi just whispered back, telling her to go along with it. by the fourth time, irene was already waiting for seulgi to take her hand like it was the most natural thing for them to do. 

she knew it was all an act, but there was something comforting about having seulgi beside her all the time and having someone to hold on to. 

and she would never admit it out loud but seulgi was really good at playing the role of a supportive and protective girlfriend. unknowingly, irene felt herself depending on seulgi to feel safe and whenever they were apart, she felt almost vulnerable. 

she was sitting in class and quietly writing in her textbook when she heard some whispers and she looked up. some of the girls were looking at her and when they caught her eye, they pointed towards the window and irene looked to see seulgi peeking her head over to look into the classroom. 

seulgi gave her a big smile when she caught her eye and waved, which made irene unconsciously smile back. she glanced at her watch, counting the minutes until class ended and she felt excitement blooming in her chest. 

wait… irene stopped herself. why am i feeling like this? 

the bell rang and students immediately packed their bags to leave. irene slowly got up to pack her things, her mind filled with thoughts about why she was experiencing strange feelings at the thought of seulgi. she didn’t even notice seulgi slipping into the classroom after everyone had left. 

“hey honey bun.” seulgi sidled up to her with a grin. she was met with a blank look and not the usual scowl or reprimand, which made her smile fall and concern crossed her face instead. “are you okay?” she asked.

“yeah.” irene said.

“here, let me.” seulgi took over to neatly pack irene’s stationery into her bag for her and she swung it over her shoulder as soon as she was done, ignoring irene’s protest that she could carry it herself. “come on, i’m hungry.” she said, hand naturally finding irene’s and irene intertwined their fingers as she followed seulgi out of the classroom. 

they were used to the staring around them and irene hardly noticed it now, especially because she was too focused on how nicely seulgi’s hand fit with hers and how warm her hand always was. 

“you seem a bit dazed, are you sure you’re okay?” seulgi’s hand pressed against her forehead and irene’s breath hitched when seulgi moved closer to look at her with a concerned expression. “do you feel unwell?” 

irene looked away from seulgi’s eyes because she knew she couldn’t speak properly if seulgi looked at her like that. “i feel fine.” she replied. 

“are you stressed? about tomorrow?” seulgi asked as they walked in line at the cafeteria and her hand never left hers. 

“a little.” irene admitted, leaning closer to seulgi when she felt other people behind her. 

“you’ll be fine.” seulgi said encouragingly and squeezed her hand. “i know you will do great, honey bun.” 

irene scoffed and slapped her arm, making seulgi laugh because she was relieved to get the normal reaction out of her. 

“i also need to talk to you about something.” seulgi said. “but after we sit down.” she added and irene nodded again. 

she realised later why seulgi wouldn’t talk about it until they were sitting down with a table separating them. 

“what?” irene raised her voice and seulgi held her hands up in defense, thankful for the table that stopped irene from hitting her. 

“wait, let me explain!” she said before irene could say anything else. “it’s just for show.” 

“but why?”

seulgi gave her a guilty smile. “someone started a rumor online on the school forum pages that if you win the election then i would kiss you in front of everyone.” 

“that’s...that’s…” irene stuttered, trying her best not to blush. 

“everyone has been talking about it like it’s some sort of promise. so…” seulgi sipped on her drink. “i confirmed it.”

“you what?” irene asked in disbelief.

“i said i would.” seulgi replied with a smile. 

“why?” irene’s voice went a pitch higher.

“because i will.”

“kang seulgi!”

“what? i told you already, it’s just for show.” seulgi said in a lower voice in case anyone around them heard, but the cafeteria was too noisy for anyone to overhear their conversation. “look, it’s for your benefit.”

“what? kissing you in front of the school?” irene scoffed and seulgi fell backwards, pretending like she got shot through the heart.

“i meant the voting part, not the kiss.” she said after she recovered from her dramatic act. “with this promise, a lot of the students who had no opinion before on the election will surely drift to your side.” seulgi tapped her chin, thinking. “if my guess is correct, you’re currently on 70% of the votes. but with this, you can win up to 80%.”

“70% is enough.”

“the bigger the gap, the less likely it is that they will manipulate the results.” seulgi reminded. 

irene bit her lip, looking at her plate and thought about seulgi’s words carefully. “just… a kiss right?” she asked carefully.

“did you want more, my honey b