"Hi, Seulgi." Irene smiles once, blushes and then hits her head with her own fist.

She groans, slides down her bed to the floor and stares hard at her reflection in the mirror. She clears and tries again.

"Hi, Seulgi-yah." Nah. That'll make her sound like she's too fond of Seulgi which is actually the truth but no, she can't give herself away so early in the game.

"Hi." Too impersonal. It's like she doesn't even know the other girl's name.

"Yah, Seulgi." Yah? She'll sound like she's picking a fight. 

"This is so frustrating! Damn that Kim Yerim." She says under her breath. 

Irene has been practicing in front of the mirror for an hour now, trying to perfect the way she'll say hi to Seulgi when she comes over her house to do what Yeri told her to. It's beyond her knowledge why she's even listening to Yeri when the girl is only 17 and has probably zero dating experience. Maybe it's because deep in her heart, she knows that the only way for her to get what she wants is to be bold. 

She clears again, takes a deep breath, and counts to three.

"Hi, Seulgi. Do you want to go out with me?" She says, eyes staring out the window, and heart fluttering madly at the thought of actually saying those words to the girl next door.

--

Wendy rolls over on her side, bites down on her lip and finally lets out a giggle. She brings her phone up to level with her face and types a reply to Seulgi's text message. She stops, erases the whole thing and starts typing a new reply. She sits up and thinks hard for a moment before finally deciding to just reply with a single emoji.

She puffs her chest out, proud of herself for being so smooth. Now it's time to wait for Seulgi's reply. 

Meanwhile, in the house next door, Seulgi looks confused at Wendy's reply. She ponders for a moment on what to reply, shrugs, and thinks that it's best to just wait for Wendy to text her again. She puts her phone down on her bed, hears her mom calling her to answer the door and goes, completely missing the alert tone for the new message that she just received.

She opens the door to find Irene standing there, all nervous smiles and a lot of fidgeting.

"Hi, Seulgi." She says, looking at her shyly from under her lashes that it makes her nervous all of a sudden. "There's something I have to tell you. Please don't ask questions or interrupt me because I'm asking you with all of my courage." 

Seulgi nods quickly. Irene takes a deep breath.

"I know it's your day off tomorrow but... do you maybe want to meet?"

Seulgi is frozen in place.

"Like go out? Yeah, I'm free tomorrow." Seulgi manages to muster a smile despite her nerves. She's not exactly the brightest girl on the block but is Irene asking her out on a date?

"Sure? Are you sure?" Irene asks, checks to make sure that she heard her right.

"You sound surprised, unnie. Yeah, I'd like that." Seulgi tries to laugh off her nervousness but ends up biting her tongue upon hearing Irene's reply.

"Really? It's a date then!"

"D-date?" Now Seulgi's the one who's surprised. She's really asking her out. Irene Bae, the gorgeous Irene Bae, is asking her out. 

"Yeah, go out not as friends... I mean, I've thought about it a lot and... I'm saying this honestly but..." She starts twiddling her thumbs, blushes red to the roots of her now brown hair, and drops her gaze to her shoes. "You know what, never mind. Forget that I asked." 

Oh, no. Irene's got it all wrong. Seulgi has to something.

Irene turns on her heel but she catches her by her wrist and stops her from going any further. Irene dares herself to look up, sees that Seulgi is smiling at her. She stares and stares and stares, unable to look away.

"Please say something." She says when the silence gets too suffocating. "Don't laugh." She warns when the younger girl starts chuckling.

"I already said yes, didn't I? Why are you taking it all back? What time should we meet?"

"Ah! How's 10 for you?" She quickly replies, a little embarrassed for stumbling over her words.

"Sounds great. I'll, uh, pick you up then?" Irene nods, tries in vain to hide her smile as she walks away. 

Seulgi closes the door behind her, leans against it for support. Oh, what luck she has! No way is Sulli going to believe her. In fact, she'll probably die of jealousy if she hears about this. Seulgi laughs under her breath and runs to her room, taking her phone from her bed to text her friend only to notice Wendy's last message.

"You're free tomorrow, aren't you? Let's go out on a date and catch up. I'll be waiting for you at the playground - Wandookung"

", I'm dead."

--

"Finally!" Joy exclaims, dropping down on the couch and pulling the sacred remote control towards her because it is time, time for her to watch her dramas after a long day of schedules. But she's barely pressed the power button when the holy device is taken from her by the devil in the form of Kim Yerim. 

"Yah!" Joy protests, face expressing just how much rage she feels. Yeri plops down on the couch next to her, wraps her arms and legs around her so that she has Joy's pinned in place. She closes her eyes.

"Shut up, unnie."

"W-what do you think you're doing? Give me back the remote, Kim Yerim."

"I said shush." Joy looks at her, notices that she's still in her school uniform and that she didn't even bother to take her backpack off her shoulders. "Do you hear that?"

Joy swallows.

"Hear what?" Could Yeri be talking about Joy's heart beat right now? 

"The sound of victory bells as you buy me a week's supply of chicken!" Yeri laughs and Joy pushes her off herself, weakly.

"Aish. You brat." Joy mutters.

"Eyy, you know you love this brat." She sasses, winks and then goes back to hugging Joy.

"You just wait. I know Wendy unnie will make her comeback." Joy replies, voice sure.

"Even though Joohyun unnie has already asked Seulgi unnie out? I don't think so." Yeri grins cheekily.

"You're acting like you don't know our Seungwan unnie. She won't back down without a fight." Joy replies. "You haven't won yet."

Yeri sticks her tongue out at Joy and she makes a funny face in return before speaking again.

"What are you trying to prove, Yeri? That you're a koala too and not just a turtle?" She gestures at their positions. 

"Hmm? Oh, this. I missed you. That's all."

There goes her heart again, growing wings, taking flight, and leaving her breathless with no ability to think. Does Yeri even know that she has this effect on her? She wonders if she has the same effect on the younger girl. Well, there's only one way to find out. She has to help Wendy get Seulgi, has to win the bet so she can get Yeri. 

--------------------

A/N: Seulrene for ya'll. More to come in the next update. Hang in there Seuldy shippers. And I just woke up. LOL. I'll edit this later, probably. Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoy this chapter!

- Bluekimchi