Realization

Chapter 2

Irene checks her watch for the nth time that morning, cursing under her breath at Seulgi's tardiness. The professor was already setting up the PowerPoint yet the girl was nowhere to be found. Her thoughts were interrupted when a voice sounded to her left.
"Excuse me, is the seat next to you taken?" Irene glanced up and holy moly what a sight to see. Long brown locks cascading down her shoulders, plump lips, round eyes... the list could go on but Irene has to stop staring before the girl think she's a weirdo.
"Yeah, sorry. My friend is running a little late," she smiled apologetically.
"Oh, that's okay," the girl returned the smile and walked towards the back.
Twenty minutes into the lecture, Irene sees a familiar brunette making her way through the aisle before situating herself onto the seat next to her.
"Sorry, I think I pressed snooze a little too much," Seulgi whispered. Irene waves her hand to signal that this was nothing new, more like a daily occurrence.
"If you were a Starbucks drink, you would be a latte," Irene said, eyes still glued to the projector. Seulgi could only scrunch her nose in distaste at the pun.
"But don't worry, I love lattes," Irene added, turning to look at Seulgi while shooting a wink her way. Of course, that earned her the infamous eye-roll.
---
"I don't understand, I call you every morning to wake you up, so how can you still be late so often?" Irene ask as they wait in line to buy lunch.
"I don't know, maybe I'm tired of hearing your voice so it's not effective anymore?"
"This is what I get for being nice to you? Do you know how many people would die to have my voice as their wake up call? I'm like, perfect bae material," Irene flips her hair.
"Haha I feel sorry for whoever calls you their bae."
"That could be you," Irene winked, "'cause you know, bae game so strong, it's in the name."
"Only in the name," Seulgi said as she make her way to the counter to order. Before Irene could refute Seulgi's claim, the cashier caught her attention.
"Heeey, you're that hot girl from this morning," Irene pointed at the cashier. Her statement made both the girl and Seulgi raise an eyebrow.
"Uh, I guess you can call me that, but I'd much rather go by Wendy," the cashier chuckled.
"I'd much rather call you hot stuff but Wendy is a nice name too. I'm Irene."
"And I'm hungry, so can we please order now?" Seulgi spoke up, trying to break the (sexual) tension in the air.
"Wow, way to ruin the mood, hungry."
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be rude. I'm Seulgi by the way, not hungry."
"Haha I figured. And none taken, I should be sorry for providing such horrible customer service. So, what can I get for you two?"
---
To say that Irene and Wendy became fast friends was an understatement. Within a month of knowing each other, the two were like conjoined twins, never one without the other. Psychology lectures are now full of whispers and giggling. Irene doesn't even seem to mind whether Seulgi was late or not anymore, she has company now. Also, whether by coincidence or invitation, Wendy eats lunch with them every day. Not that Seulgi has anything against Wendy, for god's sake, no. She just kind of don't like that Wendy has most of Irene's attention now. What do you call that? Oh right, Seulgi is friend jealous.
Seulgi and Irene were on their way home from school when a certain movie poster caught Seulgi's eyes. "Hey, want to go watch Pitch Perfect 2 together? I heard it's really good," she asked.
"Ooh, do you mind if Wendy comes with us? She's been dying to see that movie!" Irene throws her head back in exaggeration.
"Oh, I was kind of hoping that it would be just us two since it's been a while since we've hung out alone, but sure, I guess that's cool too."
"Awwh you could just tell me if you want to go on a date with me," Irene framed her face with her hands and blinked teasingly at Seulgi.
"Pfff dream on. Maybe if you were Ji Sung then I'd consider it."
"Pfff dream on, he's married. Anyways, I'll let Wendy know and we can work out a time when we're all free."
"Mkay, sounds good. By the way, did you find yourself something decent to wear yet?"
"Hmm? For what?"
Seulgi stopped dead in her track and stared at the shorter girl in confusion. "My recital? Did you forget?" Irene never forgets about her recitals though.
"Oh right!! That's what slipped my mind," Irene facepalmed. "I'll look for something when I go to the mall tomorrow."
"You? Going to the mall? Since when does Bae Joohyun willingly go to the mall by herself?"
"You think I'm crazy? If it's not for Wendy begging me to go shopping with her, I'd never step foot in that overpriced zoo."
"Oh," was all Seulgi could muster before continuing her way home.
---
Seulgi had to stop by the supermarket to buy groceries after getting a call from her mom. And Irene, being the super good friend she is, decided to tag along.
"You didn't have to, you know. The store is literally only 15 minutes away from my house," Seulgi reassured.
"I know I don't have to, but I want to. I can never get enough of spending time with my Ddeulgi," Irene cooed.
"Please, don't make me puke in a public place."
Irene let out a chuckle before following behind Seulgi. "Walk slower, my legs aren't as long as yours!"
After getting her groceries, Seulgi looked around but Irene was nowhere to be seen. Moments later, the said girl emerged from the baking section of the store, carrying boxes of cake mix.
"Since when were you interested in baking?" Seulgi raised an eyebrow at the novice baker.
"I'm only in charge of eating. Wendy's going to be doing the baking. She's making carrot cake for me!" Irene answered enthusiastically.
Seulgi's shoulders slumped instantly at the name. Wendy, Wendy, Wendy. All that Irene talks about is Wendy! Without a word, Seulgi turn her heels and walk towards the register, leaving a confused Irene to stand there by herself.
---
The remainder of the walk home was done in silence, with Irene trailing a consistent 5 steps behind Seulgi, oblivious to the situation she's in.
To Irene, awkward silence and Seulgi should never be in the same sentence. So she picked up her pace and jokingly punched Seulgi's shoulder. "Hey, what's wrong? Are you not feeling well?" she asked, only for Seulgi to ignore her and keep walking.
"Hey! Why are you walking away when I'm talking to you?!" Irene raised her voice. The one thing she hates the most is people walking away from her, and Seulgi of all people should know that.
Seulgi stopped walking and turned around with an indifferent expression on her face. "What?"
"Why are you ignoring me? What did I do?"
"You're the one that's doing the ignoring here, not me," Seulgi said and started walking again.
"What are you talking about? If you haven't noticed, I'm the one trying to talk to you right now while you're STILL walking away from me!"
"Why don't you go and talk to Wendy, maybe she won't walk away!" Seulgi knows how immature she sounds right now, but she couldn't help it. She sees Irene's frustrated expression turning into one of amusement when she looked back.
"Is that what this is all about? Are you perhaps, jealous?"
"N-no! Why would I be jealous? I should thank Wendy for lifting such a heavy cabbage off my back." She was not about to give Irene leverage of the situation and reasons to tease her.
"Well, did you know you sound like a jealous girlfriend right now?" Irene skipped towards Seulgi and jumped a bit to put her arm over the latter's neck. "Wendy is Wendy. She's not Kang Seulgi." And that was all Irene had to say to rid Seulgi of whatever worry she had in the first place.
"First of all, I'm not jealous. And second of all, please get your arm off of me, my neck is hurting from bending down," Seulgi said with a stern voice, but the upward tug on her lips said otherwise.
"Oh, so you deny that you're jealous, but you're not denying that you're my girlfriend?" Irene teased.
Seulgi turned her head slowly to the side and deadpanned at Irene, "I'm straight."
"I can change that," Irene wiggle her eyebrows.
"Hah hah, very funny. Enough with the jokes, let's go home now. We've lagged it enough," Seulgi said as she resumed walking.
Irene could only sigh before catching up to Seulgi.
Who said she was joking.