started: march 2021

tags: fluff

pairings: seulgi/irene

Today was going to be a good day.

Irene was definitely convinced.

“Baby, wake up~”

“…”

“Wakey wakey~!”

“…Hm?”

“Wake up, honnnnnnn.”

“…Hmm…”

“Seulgi, wake up!”

Seulgi’s eyelids fluttered back. With widened eyes, she glanced to her side to find her long-term girlfriend kneeling next to her, hands on her shoulder and arm. Oh, my God, Irene was shaking her awake and calling her name, but she had been too groggy to realize it.

“Good morning, silly. Do you know what day it is?”

Wait a minute.

Seulgi shot up from the bed, startling Irene in the process.

“Wait, what time is it!?” she asked, ignoring the question.

Irene furrowed her brows. She hadn’t seen a frantic Seulgi scrambling out of bed in a while. The last few times that happened were because Seulgi only had an hour or two of sleep before she had to get up ridiculously early for work, to which she obviously overslept after mindlessly turning off the alarms.

“It’s almost eight-thirty in the morning,” Irene grumbled, displeased by the fact that her innocent inquiry had been ignored.

“Oh, crap, crap, crap. I’m late!”

Irene watched Seulgi run into the bathroom, not bothering to close the door behind her as she did her morning routine.

“What are you late for? It’s Sunday.”

The toilet flushed then the faucet . Irene continued to observe her girlfriend with dulling eyes and a slight frown. Did Seulgi think that today was Monday or something? She almost never had to go to work on the weekends. When she did, they were rare occasions because either a coworker got sick during the week of a deadline or she was simply backed up from a lot of materials to process. Seulgi worked a simple, full-time desk job that was above average pay, so Irene was reasonably confused.

Seulgi spat out the toothpaste into the sink after two minutes of brushing. After quickly rinsing , she wiped it dry with one of the towels hanging and scampered back out into the bedroom to rummage through the drawers for her business casual attire.

“Yeah, but we’ve been pretty backed up the past couple of weeks, babe. One of my coworkers came down with the stomach flu,” Seulgi replied, grabbing her black slacks from the drawer before heading to the open closet. “Don’t worry, I’m only going to do a half day.”

“A half day? But that means you won’t be done until three in the afternoon,” Irene muttered.

She was unfazed when Seulgi undressed. After seeing her girlfriend’s body in many, many states countless times, it was natural to be desensitized to an arousing sight unless a situation or a mood called for it. Right now, Irene was definitely not in the mood. Seulgi didn’t even greet her good morning. Worse, she didn’t seem to know what day it was.

The businesswoman stood in front of a tall mirror to adjust her attire and smooth out any creases. This might be the quickest she had ever dressed before!

“Alright, I got to get going now,” Seulgi said.

She sauntered over to where Irene remained seated – at the edge of the bed facing the bathroom. Lifting Irene’s chin, Seulgi planted a sweet kiss on her lips.

“I’ll be back before you know it!” she exclaimed, and off she went.

“Wait, Seulgi!”

“Babe, I gotta go!” Seulgi was already at the foyer of their apartment, putting on her black flats. “Text me what you need, okay?” 

The front door closed, and Irene heaved a sigh. Maybe Irene didn’t have the greatest intuition today. She truly thought it would be one of the best days of her life. After all, she was in such a good mood this morning when she woke up earlier than Seulgi to prepare breakfast for herself and Seulgi.

Glancing at the dinner table, the breakfast was left untouched. Irene waited for Seulgi to wake up so they could enjoy breakfast together including the seaweed soup.

Another sigh was exhaled as an attempt to calm herself down. Irene couldn’t get too upset or angry. 

“This is fine, Irene,” she tried to convince herself. “Seulgi’s like this because she is late and sometimes, she can get too forgetful. She’ll come through.”

It still hurt, though.

After all, it was Irene’s special day.

“Hey, Irene! Happy birthday!”

Irene smiled at the sound of one of her good friend’s voices pouring through the line. “Hi, Wendy. Thank you.”

“Turning the big three-oh, I see! Do you have any plans? Throwing a big dirty thirty? Spending the day with your hot girlfriend?”

Irene had to scoff. “No, I am not throwing a party, and frankly, I am a little upset at Seulgi.”

“What!? How can you be upset at that cutie? What did she do?”

“It’s what she didn’t do. I think she forgot that it’s my birthday today.”

“No, no, no. There’s no way! Seulgi’s forgetful, yeah, but she never forgets what is super important to her.”

“Well, I think she did… She got up this morning late for work and left. Didn’t say ‘happy birthday’ or anything.”

“Yikes…that’s a big bummer.”

Irene sighed. Tell her about it. “Yeah, well.”

“Have any time to spare, then? I can take you out for brunch. Maybe we can do a little shopping. Who knows?”

“Hmm. Okay, yeah. That sounds good.”

“Great! I’ll swing by to pick you up in about thirty minutes or so. I’ll message you when I leave my place.”

“Okay. See you soon, Wendy.”

“See ya!”

Seulgi and Irene were almost high school sweethearts. Almost because while they had crushed on each other back then, they didn’t officially get together in a relationship. They weren’t a part of the same circle, thus the explanation as to why they didn’t progress more from the crushing-on-attractive-friends type of situation. Fast forward a couple years, they met each other once again, hit it off cleanly and smoothly as if they had continued talking to each other since high school, and well, long story short, they started to date one another.

They both concluded that if they dated each other back in high school, they might have gotten exhausted from one another too quickly. Maybe it was better that they hadn’t dated too soon. Irene experienced a terrible mental breakdown over colleges and careers that unfortunately led to inexcusable actions, which severed a lot of her relationships. Seulgi took some time to travel far and wide by herself. No contact; no social media presence. Just a time to reflect after four years of uncertainty. Unfortunate or not, both situations helped these growing individuals prosper even more to become who they are today. 

It would have been a sweet relationship back in high school, but it probably wouldn’t have lasted long, that much they could say. Personalities had been shaped for the better; physical attractiveness amplified further. If anything, their crushes on each other had gotten stronger because, truthfully, one didn't forget their crushes throughout their lifetime. When one meets their crush again, the feelings either fade away completely or an ample amount of nostalgia will crash in waves to make them remember that, oh, I really liked this person before. And I probably still do.

The latter of the two happened to be Seulgi and Irene’s case.

Evidently.

“So, are you going to tell Seulgi that it’s your birthday today?” Wendy asked.

The good friend had taken Irene out from her shared apartment with Seulgi and cruised down a highway to a highly-rated brunch restaurant that had a beautiful view of the ocean. It also helped that they were seated on the deck, allowing them to watch the waves crash into the shore and a few individuals pacing about on the sand.

Irene sighed. “Should I? I mean, I feel like she should know that it’s my birthday.”

“That’s true. But…would it be considered ‘petty’ if you don’t say anything and be upset with her?”

“Well, I wouldn’t think so. I think I’d be rightfully upset. We’ve been dating for a good three years already. Even when we were only talking back in high school, she didn’t forget my birthday.”

“That’s because Facebook notifies everyone when your birthday is,” Wendy muttered, slightly rolling her eyes. “Doesn’t count.”

“But she bought me flowers!” Irene pouted. “Okay, okay, fine. Forget high school. She didn’t forget my birthday ever since we started dating until now.”

“That’s a little odd, don’t you think?” Wendy pondered, flicking some leafy greens back and forth on her plate. 

Irene stared at Wendy a little longer. The latter was almost done with her plate; she was just taking her time with finishing the rest of it since Irene barely hit the half mark of her own dish. But it was putting Irene off the way Wendy was acting. Just a little bit.

“…You don’t think she’s pulling a prank, is she?” Irene inquired. Her eyes narrowed at Wendy, who was raising her brows out of surprise. “Because I swear to God, Wendy, if she is and I find out that you are a part of it—”

“No!” Wendy immediately exclaimed, waving her hands back and forth. She nervously laughed. “Why would you think that? I haven’t spoken to Seulgi for, like, almost two weeks!”

“Before then should be enough time to talk to Seulgi and her plans!”

“What kind of plan is this if she doesn’t talk to me today, the day to execute the plan!?”

Irene heaved another sigh and leaned back against her chair. “…You’re right. That wouldn’t be smart.”

She didn’t fail to notice the way that Wendy deflated into relief. The latter had been glancing at her phone every now and then when it lit up with incoming messages. Irene initially thought it was her boyfriend, but there were no smiles or giggles when Wendy messaged back shortly.

That brought her back to square one.

Just being upset at the fact that Seulgi might have simply forgotten her birthday.

There was just no way, though!

Like, it was Seulgi. Romantic Seulgi. Seulgi who loved watching romance movies, loved gifting flowers every now and then, loved taking her out on dates to expensive restaurants and walking around hand in hand afterwards.

How could she have simply forgotten?

It was always going to bother Irene.

It was almost noon and Irene’s mood hadn’t been tremendously lifted yet.

“Hey, she’ll come around,” Wendy tried to reassure her with a slight smile. “Let’s just not focus on her for a bit. It’s your birthday, not yours or Seulgi’s birthday. We need to put our attention on you.”

Irene grimaced and nodded. “Okay.”

“C’mon. Let’s finish our food and take you out for shopping or a drink after, okay? Joy and Yeri should be free later after they’re done with their morning pilates routine. They want to hang out with you, too.”

With another sigh, albeit quieter and more so in the form of trying to destress her body, Irene nodded.

“Okay! Sounds good.”

“Happy birthday, dear. We miss you here!”

“Thank you, Mom. I miss you and Dad and little sister, too,” Irene said softly, smiling at the sound of her mother’s voice.

“I hope you’re having a great day on your special day so far,” Irene’s mom cheerfully said. “My beautiful daughter is already thirty! You are still with Seulgi, right? Are you two celebrating together?”

Irene’s mom was practically in love with Seulgi. The latter was a charmer, that one was for sure. She knew how to please the elders and to play with the younger. A real people’s person, Seulgi was. Irene’s mom had taken a liking to her when she didn’t fail to cheerfully greet her, help around the house, and most importantly, compliment her whenever Seulgi visited the Bae’s household back in their hometown. She was never too fond of Irene’s exes, who didn’t show the ounce of respect Seulgi did. Every time she called Irene, she would always ask about Seulgi, wondering when they’d visit again, if they were still in a healthy relationship.

It was almost as if Seulgi was already the daughter-in-law to Irene’s parents.

So, Irene didn’t have the heart to paint Seulgi in a bad light to her mother, even if it was something as minimal as being forgetful.

“Of course, Mom! I just had brunch with Wendy and I’m going to spend a few more hours with her, Joy, and Yeri. Seulgi’s unfortunately stuck at work right now, so she’ll celebrate with me tonight.”

“That silly girl couldn’t take the day off for you?”

“Mom, it’s okay. Seulgi said they’re backed up at work, so I’m fine with her spending a few hours of catching up so she won’t be too stressed later in the week.”

“Okay, then. I hope you have a great rest of your birthday, then, sweetie. Your Dad and little girl say happy birthday, too.”

“Thank you, Mom. I love you,” Irene mumbled, pouting a little bit because she really did miss her mom.

“We love you, too, honey. Be sure to visit us again with Seulgi, okay?”

Irene giggled. Of course.

“We will, Mom.”

After Irene removed her phone from her ear, Joy and Yeri immediately stuck to her sides, embracing the birthday girl.

“Day drinking anyone?” Joy offered.

“After doing pilates?” Wendy scoffed. “You’re just going to ruin every progress you made.”

“Oh, come on. It’s Irene’s birthday! We can let it slide just once.” Joy poked Yeri, who was on the other side of Irene. “Right, Yeri?”

“You know I’m always down to drink.”

“Alright, alright. Let’s save the drinking for nighttime. I don’t really want to be intoxicated in the middle of the day,” said Irene.

Especially don’t want to greet Seulgi when I’m drunk either. God knows what I’d say to her later.

“Oh, right. Of course we’d be drinking tonight, I forgot—ow!”

Joy cradled her injured arm and pouted at Wendy, who had smacked her incredibly hard. The latter’s eyes were almost bulging out and she grimaced at her, telling Joy to shut up with her eyes.

Irene, confused, went to comfort Joy. “Why did you hit her like that? And what did you forget?”

“Ha ha, sorry!” Wendy nervously laughed and waved her hands to show that she meant no harm. “I don’t know my own strength sometimes!”

“I, uh,” Joy began stammering while looking at Wendy, “I just forgot that we’re going to be drinking. It’s your birthday, after all! What’s a birthday without a little bit of alcohol, you know?”

“Birthdays can be enjoyed without drinking,” Yeri said with a smirk.

“Well,” Wendy drawled, “not Irene’s birthday.”

“Anyway, let’s just go shopping like we said we would,” Joy mumbled, still rubbing her arm. She was this close to giving a number on Wendy as well.