None of Us Saw This Coming

July, 2020: So Call Me, Maybe?

"Eonni, here's your sandwich."

Irene and Seulgi were currently at Inkigayo to promote their debut single Monster which was released earlier that month. It was their debut as a sub-unit of their group and the first time ever their group had a sub-unit so it had been nerve-wracking. It made Irene lock herself up in the waiting room because she had been avoiding a particular member of a particular girl group that also happened to promote their single for their long-awaited comeback. Irene could not afford any distraction at the moment.

So it came to her as a question when Seulgi came back from her supposed trip to the washroom with a pack of sandwiches in hand and handed the very pack of sandwiches to Irene who was currently having her make-up being touched up. Irene, who did not recall ever asking Seulgi to buy her anything on her way back from the washroom, automatically cocked her right eyebrows channelling her question wordlessly.

Scratch that.

Her expression was way fitting for a face that an investigator would have worn as they interrogated a suspect. Seulgi who was currently portraying the role of the suspect in the scene could only grin with her usual foolish grin that seemed to be infecting her brain because out of all the possible ways for her to shrug her eonni's question, she chose to go with a lie.

"Thought you'd be hungry," acting as if she bought the sandwich herself. It would have been an okay alibi should she not missed one tiny crucial detail.

"Seulgi-yah."

Seulgi let out a tiny 'hmm' at the mention of her name, implying Irene to proceed with her wonder. Seulgi was busying herself with the stylist eonni praying that Irene would not prolong the matter or hoping it would ease her way of acting naturally.

"Who bought this?"

There it went her hopes and prayers.

"M—Me?" Seulgi stutteringly claimed—very convincing.

"You know I don't eat chicken, don't you?" Irene stared at the sandwich pack in her hands before she turned her head back to Seulgi, wearing an innocent look on her face. Irene could not digest chicken even if her life was depending on it and by that time all her members had known that trivia, because Irene was, in fact, allergic to chicken; it made her dizzy and nauseous.

"Well, of course, you're allergic to it."

Irene smiled in humour looking at Seulgi's face, the woman was giving herself out, Irene flipped the pack of sandwich she was just given and made it visible for Seulgi—enough for the woman to be able to read the big 'chicken' label on it. That was clearly not Seulgi's doing, someone must have given Seulgi the sandwich and looking at Seulgi's reactions and hard attempts to cover the real culprit behind the sandwich only confirmed Irene's suspicion, but she chose to keep her ideas to herself as she tried to act nonchalantly, waiting for Seulgi's comeback after her miserable lie.

"O—Oh! The ajumma must've given me the wrong sandwich! L—Let me change it," that was her choice of a comeback—weak as it went. Seulgi snatched the pack of sandwiches immediately without giving Irene a moment to react.

With that Seulgi rushed back to the tiny shop where they sold the sandwiches, leaving Irene without giving the pack of sandwiches a second glance. Seulgi once again failed to notice another tiny detail that was purposefully slipped into the sandwich wrapper.

A tiny piece of paper.

With Lisa's number on it.

-

Lisa did not know what just happened.

Well, she knew what she did but why she did it, she, too, had no bloody idea. She was at the SBS building, attending Inkigayo. Blackpink was set to promote their latest single How You like That on Inkigayo that day, the same day Irene and Seulgi promoted their debut single Monster. What perfect timing, she thought. It was a sarcasm though—just to be clear, because she still could not figure, for the life of her, how she should talk and mend things with Irene, at least she knew she had to make peace with the older at some points because she had finally pieced all the puzzle pieces together and it told her that she was the first one who must come up to the older and apologised for the stupid things she had done.