The Dangers Of Playing Chess

by Barefootnotea

Summary:

Irene Bae, whose superpower is being rich and a genius, has a small work accident that results in a broken arm and the acquaintance of one Doctor Kang Seulgi. Who she doesn't like. At all.

aka

The Irene!Ba(e)twoman fic so many people requested.

Chapter 1: One.

One.

“Alright, Miss Bae. How exactly did this happen?”

Irene took a deep sigh. She sat on a treatment couch, her arm sticking out in a weird angle. It throbbed in pain. She had inhaled half a box of tylenol, liver be damned.

“How did this happen?” Irene echoed.

Her lips thinned to a line as she considered an answer.

Someone tried to steal a six pound heavy golden coin from the city museum. I went there, took out two of the three guys. The third ran for his life and I took out my poison arrow, shot him and …

… and … her good boots had been in repair. So she had to use her second best boots with the sole already slightly used up. Grip on slippery surfaces was shaky at best and as she ran after the man, shooting him, seeing him go down, she noticed the “Caution! Wet floor!” sign a moment too late.

The cleaning crew had been late as well. She lost grip as she slid with the grace of a drunk giraffe over the floor and fell on her bottom, bracing herself with her hands. The impact had been too much, she knew, the moment her hand made contact with the floor. The cracking sound of her wrist was subtle - which made it even worse.

The pain shot up, into her shoulder, and was so intense that it almost made her puke.

For a moment, she just lay there, tangled in her black cape, her utility belt digging into her side. She heard Joy in the headphones in her mask. The pain had also shot into her head, making everything fuzzy.

Turning around on her back, she looked at the 18th century ornamental ceiling and fought down another wave of queasiness. Her wrist felt like a long, never-ending explosion of pain. It was just a bad day.

But if there was one thing she was proud of, it was her self-restraint.

And it served her well this moment. It saved her from puking.

“You look like a car has run you over,” Joy said.

And it saved her from snapping at Joy. Who stood there, immaculate in her red and black costume, unimpressed and ready to snark.

“Is he down?” Irene asked and sat up carefully.

“He is,” Joy said. She blinked. “I think he peed himself.” Then she leaned down and pulled a bit on Irene’s cape. Since she sat on it, Joy easily pulled her to the side on it. “There, you are safe.”

“... thank you.”

“I think your arm is broken.”

“No kidding, Sherlock.”

“There was a Caution! Wet Floor ! sign,” Joy said dryly. “It’s yellow. And half as big as you. How on Earth - how could you have not seen it?”

“I was otherwise occupied!”

“Blindness that comes with age,” Joy said a bit too quickly and snickered again.

Irene took a deep breath. She had not enough self-restraint left over to deal with those two. “How about we call the authorities and bring me to a hospital,” she said, a bit too calm and too sharp. Joy tried to help her up but she swatted her hands away.

“Maybe you can get your eyes checked while you are there,” Joy said.

Irene’s jaw rolled. “And your brain, while we are at it. God. Can this day get any worse?” 

She proceeded to complain about the day later on in the plane back to Bae Manor.

Joy was flying it and silently suffering.

“First this and … you know we can’t go to Doctor Choi! I hear she moved to Paris . Why on Earth would she move to Paris ?”

Joy rolled her eyes. “Is that a hypothetical question or …”

“We need a new doctor,” Irene said. “Someone who is capable and not annoying. Means, not too talkative, does what’s needed, doesn’t ask stupid questions.”

“Yeri’s big sister is a doctor,” Joy said after moment.

“No.”

“Your old doctor isn’t there anymore and Doctor Kang is, like, the Michael Schumacher of fixing bones,” Joy said.

“That’s not a thing,” Irene said.

“You want a good doctor. We can either do a casting appointment like last time which will take us six months just to find a doctor to treat your sinus inflammation or we could go to one where I actually know that people like her and think she’s good.”

“Joy …”

“Your arm is broken. Doctor Kang! Complain afterwards!”

They exchanged some dark glances and Irene proceeded to sulk.

In retrospect, as present-day-Irene sat on the treatment couch, holding her wrist, it was difficult to say. The nurse still looked at her expectantly and for a moment, she wasn’t sure what the man in white wanted of her.

His name tag said Nam Joohyuk. He looked interested and bored at the same time.

“Yes?” she asked, lifting an eyebrow.

“How did this happen?” the nurse asked again.

“I slipped on the wet floor.”

“On the wet floor?” the nurse asked.

“Yes. On the wet floor.” God, what were they teaching these people in nursing school. “We have lots of floors in my mansion and statistically, some of them are, indeed, wet from time to time.”

The nurse frowned at mansion and checked his writing pad. Then he looked up. “Irene Bae. Of Bae Industries.”

“Yes.” Bae waited for some recognition to dawn. None came.

“Huh,” Nam Joohyuk, nurse at Bae City Hospital , said after a moment. “Never heard of them. I’ll get Doctor Kang.”

“Thank you,” Irene said, icicle hanging on her words.

Irene had always masqueraded her rather exotic injuries with just as exotic sports and travels of a person who was perpetually rich and perpetually bored. Choi Sooyoung had been equally perpetually bored by her explanations and it was what Irene liked: Sooyoung just cared to fix her and Irene just cared about getting it done.

Today, however, on the worst of the worst days, it wasn’t Sooyoung who entered through the door.

It was another doctor. A new doctor.

A doctor that cared.

She had a sincere, friendly kind of smile on her face and her name tag said: “Kang. Seulgi.”

She smiled and waved with the clipboard. “Hello. I’m Kang Seulgi.”

Irene eyed her, suspiciously. “Hello.”

“So, broken wrist, huh?” Seulgi asked as she went through the notes. She frowned. “Yeri’s friend has told me this is age related?”

Irene took a deep breath. Joy. “It’s not. Age-related. I fell. On a wet floor. In my mansion. Just put bandaid on it and let me go. And she is most definitely not my friend .”

Seulgi raised an eyebrow.

“She is my sister . Big difference.”

“Right.” Seulgi didn’t even react to the word mansion . “Let’s answer some questions first,” she said, swiped one piece of paper over the back of her writing pad and clicked her pen. “Do you exercise?”

Every martial art on the planet and some yoga. “I play chess.”

Seulgi made a note. “Any history of mental illness in your family?”

Joy considers escargot food. “My uncle does pilates.”

Seulgi made another note. “Allergies?”

“Cowardice and incompetence,” Irene said. “And I once sneezed when a horse passed me by.”

“Sexual history?”

“I - why would you want to know that?” Irene said, a bit too sharply, trying to fight down the blush to keep this professional. 

Seulgi looked up and smiled. It was a patient and way too nice smile. Why was she so nice ? “I see. Let’s get you checked up. Can you lift your shirt a little bit?”

“What for?”

“I’m going to check your heartbeat.”

“You’d have to have a heart for that.”

“Ah, but I’m sure you do. Don’t be so harsh on yourself.” Her smile’s friendliness intensified for a moment and she actually patted Irene’s shoulder, then clipped the pen away and reached for the stethoscope dangling around her neck. “Please?”

Did she do puppy eyes ? Or was that just a general expression on her face ?

Irene gathered her shirt upwards, revealing only a hint of her bra. “Kang Seulgi,” she muttered. “I hope this is worth it.”

Kang Seulgi smiled and listened attentively, made some notes, then nodded. “You have a bruised ego, from what I can tell,” she said so gently and sincere that Irene wasn’t even sure if it was meant as an insult. “And a broken wrist. You’ll get a cast and -” She looked up. “We have to do something uncomfortable - we have to straighten your wrist.” She looked at Irene, her face, right into her eyes, something people rarely did. Her friendly smile slipped off for a moment as she suddenly leaned in, way too close, as something else caught her professional attention.

Irene felt her warmth. More obviously than before that Kang Seulgi was taller than her. That she smelled really good. That concentration was a look that kinda sorta flattered her facial structure. If you went for the dork kind of person, of course. Which Irene didn’t.

“And you seem to have a - have you hurt your head as well?” Kang Seulgi asked, observing the small bump on Irene’s forehead.

Sparring injury, two days old. Irene was about to comment on it, but ...

Suddenly a bright light appeared out of nowhere and before Irene could flinch away, it disappeared again.

“Your pupils react normally, but it seems you have very slippery floors at your mansion.” She leaned back and eyed her, as a whole, as a person. “I want you to come back in case you are dizzy or feel nausea.”

“I don’t feel dizzy or nauseous on principle,” Irene said.

Again that friendly smile. It was driving her crazy. It looked so - so - so genuine . She felt her self-defenses zero in on it. “If you still feel dizzy or nauseous, please call and come in immediately.” She reached into the front pocket of her white doctor’s coat and produced a business card.

Irene took the card mechanically, still staring. She usually was able to read people easily - and her hunches about folks were always right, but this girl - this woman; all she got from her clocked in on things like politeness, genuine care, friendliness and sincerity. It was not something she was used to. 

Evade. Find a different tactic. Come back better equipped. “How long does this cast have to stay on?” Irene asked.

“Six weeks.”

“Six weeks?!” Irene asked. “I can’t wear this for six weeks! I - I have things to do!”

“I’m sure you do, but I’m afraid you’ll have to ask someone else to do them for you. Like your sister! She was extremely nice when I talked to her. She requested morphine in case you were too much in pain -”

Joy, Irene silently cursed, this time with more rumbling thunder in the imaginary theatre of her mind.

“- but I assured her some regular pain killers would do the trick.”

“I’d rather die.”

Seulgi smiled gently at her, not taking up on the verbal sparring. “I’m sure you can come up with an alternative. Furthermore, I would like to see you after four, seven and then eleven days to check on your healing process.”

Irene stared at her, not sure if she was joking. 

“I can tell that you are lying, you know?”

Irene felt her suspicion rise immediately and she looked at Seulgi maybe a bit too sharply. “I didn’t lie.”

“You do sports. Your body doesn’t look like that by just playing chess,” Seulgi said, still kind. She lifted her writing pad. “I wrote down various , based on the reports Doctor Choi put down on you. If this fracture was, indeed, caused by your physical activities, maybe you want to do something more harmless than chess in the meantime.”

Irene stared at her and just received a happy tiny laughter and eyes that became crescent moons in reply.

“I’ll see you in four days, Miss Bae,” she said. She bowed slightly then left the room.

Irene stared after her and could hear the conversation she had with Joy who was still waiting. “And? Is it a boy or a girl?” Joy asked, mock excited.

Again, that short, sincere, happy laugh. Heuheuheu . That’s how she laughed. “The good news is, despite your grim predictions, your sister will survive.”

“Ah, damn.”

“The bad news is that it is your task to get her back here for the check up. A nurse will pick her up for her cast and she has to come back in four days. Please make an appointment for it. And please,” her voice became even friendlier, if this was possible. “Don’t let her drive, don’t let her even cook and no manual labor. And no chess, if this is what caused it.”

Joy laughed. “You got it, doc. See you in four days.”

Irene got the cast and an appointment set four days in the future, then they were on their way. Their car picked them up and after that they were on their way to Bae Manor.

“I like your cast,” Joy said, playing absentmindedly with her cellphone.

“Shut up.”

“I’m sure among all the pictures of your Instagram account of your yachts and cars and expensive clothing, that cast will be the crowning glory,” Joy continued.

The cast in question was pink and had Pokémon wrap on it, because they had run out on regular wrap when it had been Irene’s turn and so she had to choose between Spongebob, Paw Patrol and Pokémon. That Pokémon was the least offensive of the three options spoke about just how bad this day had gotten.

“Shut up,” Irene said again.

“What did you think of the doctor?” Joy asked, still looking at her phone.

Irene stared ahead, her face an immovable mask. “She was a doctor.”

“I thought she was nice,” Joy said. “Don’t you think so?”

“She did her job. She talked a bit much.” She caressed the cool leather seat between her and Joy. To remove dust? To distract herself? Whatever it was, the coolness felt good. It was a nice feeling under her palm in comparison to the hot, icky feeling of the cast around her arm.

“I thought she was friendly. Especially given that you were on your best Ice Queen behaviour.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Joy shrugged. “Nothing.”

“Was I impolite?”

“Probably not, you didn’t make anyone cry, but - you are the kind of person that people don’t want to meet twice when you are in a bad mood. Doc Kang didn’t seem to care.” She shrugged again. “Or cared too much, dunno.”

Irene stared at Joy; a weaker person would have been frozen to death in a second, but Joy was just too busy with her phone.

Irene stared ahead again. Then, out of frustration, she swiped over the touchscreen in the back of the seat before her. Checked the stock market. Checked her e-mails. Checked the stock market again.

“I can be nice,” she finally said. She could be. She could be the nicest person on the entire planet if she wanted to, because if she set her mind on something, she was always the best at it.

“You can be. Rarely.”

“I can be nice in a way that a person would want to see me again,” Irene said, almost petulantly. “Voluntarily,” she added, just to make sure.

“I know.”

“I’m usually not scary, I’m just professional and most people can’t handle it,” Irene closed.

Joy’s stare at her phone had gone blank, because her attention was drawn towards her sister. “Is this your type A behaviour acting up? Because your desire of always being the best at something is really disconcerting. Why are you suddenly like this?”

“When we go to Doctor Kang in four days, I will be on my best behaviour. Just so you see.”

Joy narrowed her eyes at her. “Not that I care, but - okay,” she said. She opened her mouth and closed it, then opened it again. “Just - just don’t be weird, okay? My knee sometimes cracks and I want Doc Kang to check it out and it’ll be weird between us if you make her cry.”

“Wha - I’m not making her cry!”

Joy took a deep breath and her attention returned to her phone. “Your previous six maids, three butlers and that dude who did your accounting didn’t seem to get that message.”

Irene rolled her jaw and didn’t reply. She just elbowed Joy, having to lean over farther than she wished.

Heuheuheu . The peculiar laughter of Kang Seulgi still echoed in her head. She looked down at her Pokémon cast and sighed.

A nuisance.

Nothing else.

*

Four days later, Irene, more annoyed than usual, found herself again in the waiting room. Joy had found a coffee automaton and had decided to mess with it outside in the corridor.

She and Seungwan had taken the opportunity of Irene having a cast to rediscover her artist talents. Whenever she wasn’t looking - which was mostly when she was asleep - she found yet another less than flattering drawing on her cast along with celebratory and encouraging messages, like:

Suck less next time.

All I wanted was a clean floor and what I got was this lousy cast.

Temporary exo skeleton.

Itch is located here ... and here ... and here ... and here.

Along with juvenile drawings that made her refuse to go to board meetings at the company.

Irene was not alone in the waiting room this time: A girl, younger, sat opposite of her and looked at her with interest. Irene took a deep sigh and hoped that the teenager - she had to be a teenager, she was wearing her school uniform - didn’t want to talk to her, but -

“You have fun friends,” the girl said and motioned towards Irene’s cast.

--- no such luck.

“That is up for debate,” Irene said and tried to use her most final tone, but the girl didn’t seem to be discouraged.

“Are you here to see Doctor Kang?” she asked.

“It’s Doctor Kang’s office, so who else would I be here to see?”

The girl shrugged. “I don’t know - sometimes people just come here to ask her out and such.”

“Which is still a reason to see Doctor Kang,” Irene said and frowned. People came here just to ask Kang Seulgi out? Highly unprofessional to bother her during her working hours.

“Yeah - she’s pretty popular,” the girl said, proudly.

Irene lifted an eyebrow at her. “Are you here to ask her out?”

“What? No! Ew! Gross! She’s my sister!” the girl spluttered.

It gave the girl an immediate new dimension. Kang Seulgi’s sister. Interesting.

Of course Irene had heard of her - she was a good friend of Joy after all - but she had never seen her in person.

They didn’t resemble each other much. Her nose and the shape of her eyes were different - and she was smaller than Kang Seulgi by almost a head. “Are you here for professional reasons?”

The girl shook her head. “No. I’m here to pick her up for dinner. You are her last patient of the day.”

“I see.” Irene eyed her.

“Do you have siblings?”

“You are awfully nosey.”

“I know.”

“I do.”

Silence.

“Boy or girl siblings?”

Irene sighed. “I have a sister. She’s very annoying. Just like you.”

“Hallmark of great siblings,” the girl said proudly. “What’s her name?”

“None of your business.”

“ My name is Yeri. Kang Yeri.”

“I would have been able to deduce your last name, yes,” Irene said.

Yeri stared at her for a long moment. “You aren’t the funnest person, are you?”

Irene directed a gaze fashioned like an icicle at Yeri and summoned all her gravitas to say:

“No. I am not.”

“Yeah. I was able to deduce that,” Yeri said somewhat smuggly. Irene stared at the girl, not exactly surprised, but - impressed despite herself. They really didn’t resemble each other at all.

Like Joy didn’t resemble Irene. But suddenly Irene realized: Joy and Yeri resembled each other. They were both annoying. She thought this was very disconcerting. Especially that they got along.

The door to the office opened and Joohyuk, the male nurse, and Kang Seulgi appeared.

“I’ll get it done,” Joohyuk said. Then he noticed Irene. “Oh. You again. The doctor is available now. Hello Yeri.”

“Hello, oppa.” They exchanged a smile, then Joohyuk trudged outside.

Kang Seulgi smiled, first at Yeri and then at Irene.

“Hi Yeri. I’ll be with you once I have looked after Miss Bae here.”

Yeri shrugged. “‘s okay. I have all the time in the world.” She plopped in her headphones and threw Irene the most critical glance.

Much to Irene’s surprise, the smile Doctor Kang directed at her was pretty identical to the one she gave Yeri. Not dimmed or anything when she looked at Irene. “Please come in.”

She didn’t look tired or moody, given that a work day of eight hours or more lay behind her, but her steps were slightly heavier when she followed Irene inside her office. And her hair was slightly messy. And she was pale. But her smile? It stayed the same; friendly, open, sincere.

“How are you doing? How’s the -” Kang Seulgi looked down at the cast and noticed the art that had found its way onto it. “How’s the - erm, cast.” She laughed. Heuheuheuheu. “Your sister seems to like it. Ad space available . Really funny. Can I take a picture of it?”

Irene tensed immediately. “Why?”

Seulgi pointed. “For my collection.” It was then that Irene noticed, among framed pictures of casts. One looked like a Monet. One had drawn a Picasso onto it. One looked like a Jackson Pollock. Irene didn’t want to know.

“... sure,” she said after a moment.

Seulgi took out her phone and took a picture. “Thank you.” She sat down and turned around the screen on her desk. It showed pictures of Irene’s x-rayed arm, from four days ago and today. “Looks very good. You are healing well. I still want you to come in next week.”

“Is it really necessary?”

Seulgi smiled. “Yes. Did you refrain from playing chess?” Her expression was so sincere, Irene wasn’t sure if Doctor Kang was joking or not.

“I … did … refrain from playing chess.”

“Very good.”

Irene hated how she felt proud at the doc’s words. Could pain killers, administered four days ago, make a person still stupid?

“Please remember to get rehab after your cast is being removed. Your muscles in your hand will have atrophied and you might have impeded movement, therefore it’s important to get training there.”

“Understood.”

Kang Seulgi looked at her, a bit wary. “But not too much exercise. You shouldn’t overstrain yourself.”

“Do you think I don’t know when to stop?” Irene asked, her voice a bit confrontational.

“Yes,” Doctor Kang said immediately.

“You don’t know me very well,” Irene said, hating that she felt cornered. “I know my body very well.”

“I am sure you do, Miss Bae, but I still recommend to take it easy and … and I’m not sure you are the type for that.”

Irene narrowed her eyes at the doctor. The other woman didn’t flinch away, which was quite the feat. Most people flinched away. Supervillains flinched away. “What makes you say that? We don’t know each other very well.”

Doctor Kang managed to still smile, caring and concerned. Wordlessly, she minimized the application that showed the x-rays and opened a browser, entering Irene’s name and then went to the “News”-section. The first three headlines were these:

Irene Bae - First Woman to parachute to Earth from Space.

Multi-Billionaire Irene Bae the first female Formula One Driver?

Irene Bae runs marathon in new personal best - Iron Man next year?

Irene cringed and sat back in her chair. “Oh. That. ”

“Yes. That . Personally I’m impressed by your physical feats, but Miss Bae. If you want your wrist to be the same as it has been before, the keyword is moderation. I’d recommend doing something more relaxing and only mildly taxing.”

Irene tried hard not to scowl. “Like what?”

“I don’t know. How about some light walking?”

This time there was no stopping the scowl. “Light walking is for old people. Do you think I’m old?”

Seulgi laughed. “No. We are only three years apart.”

Irene stared at her. It made sense of course that Seulgi as her doctor knew her age and of course Seulgi would know her own age, but the fact that she compared them struck Irene as … weird.

Not weird.

Not even unprofessional. Not quite. It was just that she compared something personal of Irene to something personal of herself and shared her own age in the process. Irene didn’t know what to think of it. The message was definitely that Seulgi didn’t consider her old, but - but …

Was it pure kindness? Sincerity? Or was it - was it interest? Would Kang Seulgi dare to show interest in Irene?

Again she felt something rage inside her: One piece of her felt flattered, happy even, and the other … how dare she show interest?!

“Anyway. I will see you again in five days,” Seulgi said, smiling, completely unaware. “Take care. No strenuous activities!”

Irene found herself nodding and then Doctor Kang led her out of her office. The girl, Yeri, was sitting there holding a yellow Switch Lite. Slightly older Joy was sitting there as well, holding her red-ish Switch light. There was a tense moment of silence, then Joy said:

“Alright. I give you my Pikachu for your Lapras if I get your Gengar for my Wooloo.”

“Your Wooloo is hardly worth my Gengar,” Yeri said with a huff.

Joy cast her a sharp glance. “Do you want my Pikachu or not?”

“Okay, okay. Geez, geezer,” Yeri said.

“Take that back or no Pikachu!”

Irene took a deep breath. “I’m sorry if I’m interrupting anything, but -”

“Five minutes,” Joy said.

Irene cast her a stern glance. “Joy -”

“Just five minutes,” Joy said again. “Come on. Relax a bit.”

“Relax a bit? And do what?” She motioned at her surroundings. “We are in the middle of Doctor Kang’s office and I’m sure she wants to go home too.”

Kang Seulgi cleared her throat. “I’m actually - I’m - are you hungry?”

Irene turned to Doctor Kang, incredulous, and then noticed her expression. It was a bit unsure, but friendly and … and hopeful.

Doctor Kang continued talking. More like babbling. Irene wasn’t sure if anyone in this room was using their brain. “There’s a small place nearby. They make excellent fried chicken. And they have free wifi.”

“I don’t like fried chicken,” Irene deadpanned.

“I like free wifi,” Joy said, absentmindedly, then, to Yeri: “No, the other Gengar!”

“Oh.” Seulgi’s face fell for a moment, then it lightened up. “They also have other stuff. Like - French fries, burgers … or coleslaw.”

Joy didn’t even look up from her Nintendo Switch. “You like bibimbap.” Then she turned, without looking up to Yeri. “I’m not giving you my Thawkey.”

Yeri snickered.

“How about it?” Seulgi asked, again so damn hopeful. Irene hated her hopeful expression. It was so - so -

“Yes, mom. How about it?” Joy asked.

Irene huffed. “I’m not your mom.” Then she straightened her posture. “Alright. Alright. I’m hungry, you are hungry and Doctor Kang is hungry - and … you are hungry too.” She eyed Yeri, then straightened herself further. “Let’s eat something.” She eyed Seulgi, whose grin was face-splittingly wide. “Does this establishment also offer take out?”

“They do,” Seulgi said, her happy expression dimming for a moment. Then the smile returned even if not full force. “Come on, you.” She gently tapped Yeri on her shoulder and the girl got up, like a robot, shrugged on her backpack and held on to Seulgi’s arm.

The woman gently led the younger girl out.

“Shouldn’t she pay attention to other things?” Irene asked, sharply. “For example, where she’s going?”

Seulgi shrugged. “Yeri. Have you done your homework?”

Yeri nodded, absent-mindedly.

“Emptied the dishwasher?”

Yeri nodded again.

“Wiped the sink in the bathroom?”

Another nod.

Seulgi patted her shoulder. “Well done.” She looked at Irene. “It’s her free time and she has done all her chores. Plus we have family Wednesday together.”

Irene looked at Seulgi then at the girl, who clung to Seulgi’s arm. Then at Joy.

“It’s my free time too, like Yeri’s, so I can play all the Nintendo Switch I want,” Joy said with a smirk.

Irene returned it with a deadly one of herself. “We’ll talk about that at home.”

They left the hospital and Irene’s car, a large Maibach, was already waiting in front of the large, paved path that was usually reserved for cabs.

The vehicle gave Seulgi a start. “That’s your car?”

“That’s one of my cars,” Irene said. “Why? You don’t like it?”

“No, no, it’s just very -”

“Enormous. Gigantic. Probably compensating for someth -”

“Expensive,” Seulgi quickly said before Yeri could end her sentence.

Joy giggled.

“It’s very close. We can walk … if you want …” Seulgi suggested carefully.

“You know, like setting one foot in front of the other,” Joy said. “Like all the peasants do.”

Irene elbowed her younger sister. Joy laughed.

“Sure,” she said lightly with a dark glance going towards Joy. “Let’s walk.”

They did walk. Joy had a conversation about Pokémon with Yeri - and Irene walked next to Seulgi. The doctor smiled.

“I’m sorry that I’m making you step out of your comfort zone so much,” the doctor started, “since you don’t seem to walk much - and if you do, probably not like this.”

“Joy is exaggerating,” Irene said with a pointed glance at Joy. “I do walk. Indeed, I run five miles every morning.”

“Oh, that’s - that’s very impressive.”

“Good health is very impressive,” Irene said. “Do you work out, Doctor Kang?”

“I do crossfit,” Seulgi said. “Whenever I have time.”

“Me too,” Irene said. “I also do boxing and I swim. I’m also on a strict diet.”

She watched Seulgi deflate a bit at the words ‘strict diet’. The doctor seemed to feel bad at making Irene eat something that was apparently not up to Irene’s usual standards - and Irene thought:

Yes. You should feel bad. I’m cornered into eating out at a place that probably does not offer organic food or vegan food or anything remotely grease-free.

But out came: “I’ll manage.”

They arrived at a burger restaurant. It advertised a burger called “Heart Attack”, consisting of three burger patties, between each a layer of bacon, the entire thing held together by mayonnaise. On a general unhealthy scale ranging from “This burger has seen a vegetable from afar” to “this burger contains your body weight in grease” most things on the menu were a cardiac surgeon’s nightmare. Each dish had some alibi greens attached to it, like a sad piece of broccoli here and some salad buried beneath the French fries there, but it was mostly a heart attack served on a plate.

“Strict diet,” Seulgi echoed, slightly worried. She opened the door for Joy, Yeri and finally Irene.  “Like - how strict?”

Irene’s eyes narrowed. “Strict.” She shot Seulgi a glance that was sharp like an arrow, then went inside.

“She’s just joking,” Joy managed to inform Seulgi, who produced a nervous laugh.

They entered the place - and Irene looked around. It was filled with small booths for four to six people.

“Is a waiter going to lead us to our table?” Irene asked, because surely, one of the white-aproned, bored looking ladies would be doing their job and accompany them to a seating arrangement.

Joy behind her groaned. “Stop being embarrassing,” she said and dragged Irene away by her arm to a small booth.

Under other circumstances, Irene would have never let herself be pushed towards a small booth, but the new surroundings were confusing her. Families, construction workers, crazy cat ladies, they all seemed to like dining here. It was definitely a different breed of clientele compared to the high class restaurants she usually went to.

A woman passed her by on rollerskates, carrying several trays of food that would probably drive Irene’s nutritionist into hysterics, but the smell was amazing and the physical feat of balance was … quite impressive. For an amateur.

Joy nudged her into a sitting booth of two large … red, faux-leather covered couches basically facing each other. She found herself opposite Kang Seulgi who smiled happily.

Irene eyed her, then Joy and finally Yeri. They all seemed happy, despite the fact that Irene considered the menu itself a health violation. She started rummaging in her bag and then Joy leaned over. She spoke out of the corner of her mouth while maintaining a bright smile.

It was quite impressive, Irene had to admit.

“I swear if you are taking out the disinfectant, I’m going to decapitate you once we are home, because these are the first people that aren’t intimidated, scared or deeply concerned for their safety when you are around.”

Irene lifted an eyebrow and cast her younger sister her completely blank, unimpressed gaze and with a pointed Plop! sound opened the definfectant and started to rub down the table and the four plastic menus.

Joy watched her and Irene could tell she wanted to facepalm right there and then, while Seulgi and Yeri watched her, Yeri’s face the very impression of being judgemental, while Seulgi’s smile was nothing else but confused.

“Hygiene is very important!” Seulgi finally said.

Yeri wasn’t as gentle. She had her feet on her seat, her Switch Lite placed on her knees and eyed Irene over it. Finally she looked at Joy opposite of her. “Your mom is super weird.”

“I know,” Joy said.

“I’m not her mom,” Irene said.

“It’s nice that you are kinda doing our job by rubbing down the desk, but you still have to pay the full price,” the waitress that had seemingly grown out of the ground said.

Irene cast Joy a devastating glance that she repelled like it was a hamster thrown at her. Irene eyed the waitress, picking up the menu. “Yes. We would like to order.”

“Oh boy,” Joy said. “Here it comes.”

Irene took a deep breath, summoning all her haughtiness. “What can you recommend?”

The waitress eyed Irene, wondering if she was making fun of her or not. Then: “This is a burger restaurant so I suggest you order a burger.”

Irene exhaled. “Alright. One would assume you have a burger of the day, but let’s just proceed. I will have,” she eyed the menu in her hand. “As all your salads are drenched in mayonnaise, a … double cheeseburger - what kind of cheese are you using on it?”

“Quadratic cheese?” the waitress said.

“Are you telling me or asking me?”

“Telling you. It is quadratic cheese.”

Irene eyed her. She considered for a moment asking a follow up question, but then decided against it when Joy kicked her against the ankle. “The buns slightly toasted, the meat medium rare, with a salad, the mayonnaise separate, please, and French fries and a large glass of water.” She placed the menu down and eyed the woman. “Thank you.”

The waitress took note of all of it and took the orders from everyone else. She left and cast Irene another confused glance over her shoulder.

“Is this your first time at a restaurant like this?” Seulgi asked, very carefully, but Irene could hear the laughter in her voice.

Irene wiped at a non-existent smudge on the table. “When I was younger, my parents would take me to places like this.” She took a deep sigh. “It was … always very adventurous.”

“At least you had an adventure,” Joy said, somewhat snappy. She punched the buttons of her Switch Lite, a frown on her face.

Irene looked over at her. “You were there too.”

“But I was two. I can’t remember.” She threw her sister a quick and somewhat angry glance.

“Why don’t you go again with your parents?” Yeri asked and shrugged.

“They’re dead. Died when I was three,” Joy answered.

Irene watched as the younger girl’s fingers stopped moving and she peeked over her Switch at Joy, who was staring at her screen, way too concentrated. Doctor Kang next to Irene had frozen up, not sure how to handle the uncomfortable atmosphere.

“It’s the way it is,” Irene was about to say, but Yeri was faster.

She let the Switch sink down and then craned for the waitress, trying to wave her over.

“What are you doing?” Joy asked.

“If that’s the first time eating since … since then , you need a bigger burger,” Yeri said, waving at the waitress.

Joy tried to pull down her hand. “No, what are you doing?” But the smaller girl proved to be quite squirmy, easily avoiding Joy’s grasp, as they wrestled on their seat.

“You ordered a chicken burger.” Yeri rolled her eyes. “Get at least something with mayonnaise. Make it count.”

“I am making it count, God,” Joy grumbled, and each time she managed to grasp Yeri’s hand and pulled it down, it shot up a moment ago. “You are annoying.”

“Leave her be if she doesn’t want to,” Seulgi told her younger sister.

Yeri eyed Seulgi. “If you don’t want to pay for it, then I will.”

“If someone is going to pay for it, then I am,” Irene said. She would not allow strangers that already knew way too much about their personal life pay for her younger sister’s whims. About to brandish her black visa card, Joy’s eyes snapped up to meet Irene’s.

“I don’t want you to pay for it,” she said.

And Irene - Irene struggled to reply, to say something back, something sharp that would put her into her place, but couldn’t. She could only stare back.

The waitress picked the most unfortunate point in time to arrive at their table. “Yes?” she asked, bored. “Anything else?”

Yeri eyed Joy expectantly, who in turn had a stare off with Irene, her chin pushed forward, defensive and angry. Irene’s glance was similarly hard and none of them showed any signs of surrender. Yeri looked at them and then at Seulgi, who had been sitting there quietly.

It was Seulgi’s voice that broke the silence: “One double tornado burger, please. With extra mayonnaise. Thank you. If you don’t want to eat it, I will eat it for lunch tomorrow,” she added when Joy tried to say something. “If you do want to eat it, I can pay for it. Alright?”

Joy eyed her, a long, steely glance, then leaned back. “I’m gonna check out their cupcake selection as well,” she said and with a start got up and marched to the counter.

“Wait up!” Yeri followed her and then they were gone.

Irene, back still ramrod straight, slowly sunk back against the seat, her eyes following her younger sister to get some sweet bakery products. “I apologize,” she said. “That you had to witness this. Our relationship is, at times, a bit tense.”

“I noticed,” Seulgi said, still gentle.

“You don’t have to pay for that burger.”

Seulgi shrugged. “It’s fine. My meager doctor’s salary is able to handle it.”

There was more silence between them as they watched Yeri and Joy pick out cupcakes. Joy seemed a bit stiff, but Yeri managed to drag her along by the wrist - and the older girl started to ease up.

“You are not asking for details or trying to give me advice,” Irene said after awhile.

“That’s correct, I’m not.”

Irene tore her gaze from her younger sister and then looked over at the doctor. Seulgi seemed completely relaxed, a vague smile on her face as she regarded Irene with thoughts that Irene could only take a guess at. She wanted to say Thank You , but couldn’t.

Instead she craned her head to look at the waitress.

“If the mayonnaise is not separate, I’ll buy this restaurant to fire her.”

“As your doctor, I need to remind you of your blood pressure. Among other things,” Seulgi said. The strictness in her voice was coated with so much gentleness, Irene wasn’t sure immediately if it was really there. “Irene-sshi.”

This time, Irene managed to look at the other woman and managed to say: “Thank you,” much sharper than intended.

Seulgi smiled anyway. 

*

“So.”

“So what?”

“We can’t have these kinds of conversations in front of strangers,” Irene said.

Joy huffed, while still staring at her phone. They were both in the back of Irene’s car, the Maybach on its way to Bae Manor. “We can’t? Or we won’t? If we don’t have them in front of strangers, we’ll never have them.”

Irene’s voice was sharp and angry: “Yah.”

Joy was still unimpressed. “Yah what.”

“At least look at me and not that stupid phone when you are talking to me,” Irene said.

Joy, with an exaggerated eye roll, set the cellphone on her lap and looked up, batting her eyelashes at Irene. “What do you wish to talk about, oh beloved sister?”

“Do you want to eat hamburgers more regularly? Because I can totally make the chef cook hamburgers for you and -”

“Oh my God.” Joy threw her hands. “This is not about the stupid hamburgers! God. For someone who is supposedly the best detective on the planet, you are incredibly stupid.”

Irene eyed her, critical and annoyed and slightly angry at the same time. Joy didn’t make any sense. She was incredibly well educated, rich, beautiful, could get anything she wanted, would take over parts of the company one day, but she didn’t make any sense. She rarely did, to Irene, but currently it seemed more than usual. “Then what -”

Joy huffed and rolled her eyes. “Just forget it.” She picked up her phone once more and angrily tapped it.

Irene stared at her, the muscles in her throat tense. “Do you want to stop helping me with - the work we do?”

“No,” Joy snapped.

“Do you want more free time?”

“I’m good.”

“Money?”

“No.”

“New car?”

“No, for God’s sake! Just stop it!”

“Then tell me what -”

Joy let her hands fall onto her lap and eyed her. Something disconcerting sparkled in her eyes. “Eonnie.” There was a warning somewhere in there.

“What.”

“Okay. You know what would I want? Movie night. With Doc Kang and Yeri. We haven’t had people over in … in forever!”

“Last weekend, we had people over!”

“That was a cocktail party for work and the Obamas don’t count,” Joy said.

“Why don’t you invite some of your friends from school.”

“Because they’ve met you.” And at Irene’s lifted eyebrow, she continued: “They are scared of you and they think Bae Manor is haunted. Plus neither Yeri nor Doc Kang cried once in your presence, so they can take movie night. And I like Yeri. We are friends. So deal?”

Irene rolled her jaw. Then: “Fine.”

*

Doctor Kang eyed the x-rays and then looked at Irene. Irene was already staring at her and met her glance evenly when Seulgi started talking.

“You are healing up very well,” Seulgi said, got up and rounded the desk. She took the seat opposite Irene and reached out for her arm. Irene offered it to her after a moment of hesitation. “I’m proud of you. We’ll remove the cast in four weeks and until then, still, try to take it easy, okay? I’ll just check for flexibility right now.” Slowly and carefully she started to unwrap the bandage. “Your sister isn’t there today?”

Irene smoothed down her pants. She used the moment to get out the word: “No.”

Seulgi carefully unpeeled the cast and gently stretched Irene’s fingers. “May I ask, why? Yeri has been looking forward to seeing her and I think Joy promised to accompany you.”

“Joy and I don’t get along very well … sometimes,” Irene said. She looked up at Seulgi, daring her to say something.

Seulgi merely tilted her head. “I see. Does this hurt?”

Irene wondered for a moment if they were talking about her hand or about her situation with Joy. With Sooyoung. “Sometimes,” Irene said, “But it’s getting better.”

Seulgi smiled faintly. “That’s excellent news.” In silence she continued inspecting Irene’s hand and Irene, leaning back in the chair, inspected Seulgi.

The other woman was beautiful in her own way - pretty, yes, but also a wonderful, kind and open smile and an unassuming personality. And she didn’t bumble around Irene like an idiot - Irene suspected her of bumbling, but it was not because she felt intimidated by Irene. Probably a character trait connected to other things.

Her hands were soft on her skin, as she gently manipulated each digit and finally re-bandaged her arm again.

“Do I have something on my face?” Seulgi asked, still looking down at Irene’s arm.

Irene felt her own face harden despite herself. “No. I was just - thinking.”

There was a little twitch in Seulgi’s face that Irene couldn’t quite place. Was it good? Was it bad? “About what?”

“Since Joy didn’t - couldn’t - come, I was wondering if Yeri was interested coming by for a … playdate,” Irene cringed at the description.

But Seulgi looked up, smiling. “They are a bit old for a playdate, no?”

“Joy misses her as well,” Irene said. “And the reason why she doesn’t meet her is me … in a way. Would she want to come over? I’m extending the invitation to you as well.”

“So a playdate for Joy, Yeri, you and me?” Doctor Kang asked, looking up. She had finished bandaging Irene’s arm and sat back as well.

“If you don’t want to come …”

“Should I bring food?” Doctor Kang asked. “Or boardgames?”

Irene shook her head. “Just Yeri.”

“And what would we be doing in the meantime?”

Irene straightened herself. “Oh, there’s plenty to do. Bae Manor owns quite an impressive 18th century library. Also our staircase was designed by Kim Taeyeon herself. And I own two Picassos and one Monet - their background story is quite fascinating.”

Seulgi eyed her, frozen for a moment, then broke out of her surprise with a start. “That sounds interesting,” she said and laughed once more.

Irene wasn’t sure if the other woman made fun of her, but elected to nod. “It is. I’ll send you the details via phone.”

“Al-right!” Seulgi laughed, her eyes crescents.

Irene almost smiled. Almost. Instead she kept her face completely blank and echoed: “Alright.”

*

“You invited them to a playdate ?” Joy screeched.

Irene wanted to pull her hair out. Instead she opted for the dignified variation of it, crossed her legs and took another sip of her tea. “You wanted me to.”

“I said movie night, not playdate! God, what are we, six ?”

Irene rolled her eyes. “Yeri will come over, you can skate down one of the corridors or whatever else you guys do in your free time and we can have a movie night in the Green Salon,” she said. “I will order Suisse macarons.”

Joy stopped pacing and narrowed her eyes at the older one. “When you asked Doc Kang, you weren’t weird about it, were you?”

“I was perfectly polite,” Irene said, trying hard not to sound offended. “She smiled and was perfectly polite as well.” She took another sip, holding Joy’s gaze. “What do you even mean by ‘was I weird about it’? I’m perfectly able to navigate polite society, thank you very much!”

“We both know you can get intimidating and strong willed when you want something and the other person isn’t exactly on the same page as you are,” Joy said. “And you really say ‘perfectly’ a lot.”

Irene straightened herself. “Because I am.”

“Oh please. I live with you. I remember when you had diarrhea for three days -”

“We don’t talk about this.”

“- from that chicken salsa thing -”

“We don’t talk about that!”

“- and basically lost your weight in fluids and other stuff.” Joy smirked at her bigger sister’s expression that was completely blank and with the fury of a thousand hells behind it. “I think this could make for an excellent dinner conversation, because doctors love weird medical stuff, no?”

“I hate you.”

“I know. But I’m your sister, so you are stuck with me.” She stuck out her tongue and Irene was taken aback by the motion, because she was dressed like an European Princess and somehow she would have expected that this would somehow prevent Joy’s more ridiculous character traits.

Apparently she was mistaken.

Joy went and left, leaving Irene back at the dinner table, in front of several rolls of sushi that she hadn’t eaten yet. She sat there for quite a while until she had finished, deep in thought, and then went to her personal gym and out of frustration did yoga which she didn’t enjoy at all, because her cast prevented her from doing all the interesting poses..

Then paused and since her frustration hadn’t gone away, she did another round.

Sweaty, exhausted and somewhat feeling better, she made her way to the bathroom. She passed a long corridor, alongside several knight’s armours on small pedestals that her father had bought from Europe.

A faint noise was coming from outside - thud, thud, thud.

She stepped closer to the windows on the other side of the corridor. They gave way to the court in the middle of the manor. Joy was outside, playing basketball, by herself.

She looked bored - balancing her dreadful cellphone in one hand, still clothed in her expensive brand two-set and high heels and threw basketballs all over the court to the other side. Irene watched as each of them went into the net - one. After. The. Other.

Irene eyed the spectacle for some time, then went to the shower, the sounds following her.

Both Irene and Joy had something in common, despite being so fundamentally different from each other:

They both had trouble making friends. Their personalities tended to fill rooms and barely left space for anyone else. Irene was difficult in her absolute ambition, her immaculate perfection coupled with the way she looked.

Joy had some of that, but she was combative and often more intelligent than anyone in the room. It tended to intimidate people, prospective friends, prospective love interests. It made her lonely.

Or even worse, it made her lonely with Irene - and Irene knew that she was not the easiest person to be lonely with.

For a moment, when she turned on the shower, she thought what it was about that girl, Yeri, that resisted Joy’s personality. For starters, Yeri was tiny and she looked like she would die by a single mosquito attack. But she didn’t seem to be intimidated by the taller girl.

The same went for her older sister, Kang Seulgi.

Heuheuheuheu.

Irene squeezed her eyes shut, letting the warm water splash into her face as she let the sweat wash off her body.

It was the strangest situation to meet not one person, but two people, just like this.

She sent a message to Seulgi at night.

IreneBaeCEO: What’s your favorite food?

hi_sseulgi: Is this your company account?

IreneBaeCEO: Is this your company account?

hi_sseulgi: The hospital tells us to give out our private numbers for clients that frequent the exclusive ward. So … well. It’s also my Instagram.

IreneBaeCEO: I don’t have Instagram.

hi_sseulgi: I’m not surprised. ::sweatdrop_emoji::

IreneBaeCEO: … right. So. Your favorite food?

hi_sseulgi: I eat everything that’s generally considered edible.

IreneBaeCEO: Everything?

hi_sseulgi: Most stuff, yes.

Irene cringed. She could name thirty six different types of food alphabetically or chronologically she would even avoid touching with a fork. How could Kang Seulgi eat everything ?

IreneBaeCEO: What about Yeri?

hi_sseulgi: Same.

IreneBaeCEO: This is not helpful. Kang Seulgi.

hi_sseulgi: ::sweatdrop_emoji:: Sorry. Well. We like Bibimbap.

IreneBaeCEO: Bibimbap? Okay. I can work with that. Anything else?

hi_sseulgi: The usual side dishes. Ice cream? Ice cream is nice too.

IreneBaeCEO: You want icecream. And Bibimbap.

hi_sseulgi: Yes! ::laughing_emojI::

IreneBaeCEO: I will arrange for such.

hi_sseulgi: Thank you, Irene-sshi! I’ll see you Friday!

IreneBaeCEO: Yes.

IreneBaeCEO: Until Friday.

hi_sseulgi: ::bear_emoji::

Irene stared at the bear emoji.

What grown-up person used animal emojis if they didn’t work at the zoo?

*

Irene got her cast removed two days later. Seulgi was not at the hospital that day, but the expressionless male nurse, Nam Joohyuk, gave her a lollipop after they removed her cast.

“It’s melon flavor. Your sister said you like melon flavor.”

Irene held the lollipop between her index finger and thumb, her face blank. “Thank you.” Small icicles adorned the words.

“You are welcome,” Nam Joohyuk replied in the same tone.

They stared at each other for a long moment. A figurative tumbleweed blew down the hospital corridor. Then Irene left. “Weirdo,” she mumbled and she could have sworn that she heard him utter the same.

That night, she went on her first patrol again since her injury, high above the roofs of Seoul. It went well, but one suspect was faster than anticipated and he left a painful welt on her face.

*

Seulgi, being the medical doctor she was, immediately noticed the red, swollen stripe in Irene’s face that went from under her jaw over her cheek to the side of her nose. When Joy opened the large front portal of the mansion and Yeri and Seulgi stepped in, Seulgi’s face showed a bright smile. It peeked up behind an enormous amount of potato chip and popcorn bags but faded when she noticed Irene’s face.

“What happened?” Seulgi asked.

“Stupidity,” Joy said.

Irene took a deep breath. “No, I was just being - slow. Come on in.”

They both entered the main hall - and Yeri asked the question that most kids asked when they first saw it: “Are those real?” pointing at the mounted heads of boars and deers and stags mounted on the wall.

Irene’s grandfather had shot them and mounted them on the wall. Irene had never brought herself to remove them, despite them probably being unhygienic and catching dust.

“They - are.”

Yeri turned towards Irene, her face genuinely curious and bearing, as far as Irene could tell, no malice. “Don’t you think they are super creepy?”

Irene stared at her, her own face blank. “You catch Pokémon, grandfather did this.”

Yeri contemplated the answer, Joy biting back a snicker next to her. “You are creepy too.”

“And you are only noticing this now?” Joy asked. She dragged at Yeri’s arm. “Come on, I’ll show you my room.” While she pulled the younger girl away, she cast both Irene and Seulgi a glance, her own lingering on her sister for longer. Then she gave a sharp nod towards Seulgi. “Don’t be weird, okay?” Then they were gone.

Irene took a deep breath, staring at where Joy had disappeared. “I feel like I have to apologize.”

Seulgi, still standing there, in her coat, grinned. “You are pretty similar.”

Irene threw her a glance like a lancet, impaling her, as if Seulgi was a butterfly. “We are nothing alike.”

Seulgi didn’t seem to mind the lancet. She just shrugged and grinned and lifted the bag of chips and popcorn. “Where does the food go?”

“Follow me.” Irene shot her a last glance and Seulgi followed after her, happily.

Irene wasn’t used to people being so chipper around her. So happy. She knew she had a certain aura about her. It helped in company meetings, to repel certain members of the board; and sometimes, it repelled people whether she liked it or not. It was just the way she looked.

Seulgi however seemed completely at ease around her. Maybe she just didn’t notice Irene’s kind of personality? Or she just didn’t care.

Irene had prepared the Blue Salon for their movie night - it was not that big of a room, it didn’t have an echo when you called for someone who was standing at the other side of the room. Plus, blue was a calming color and Joy liked that the TV was 8k.

Seulgi seemed to like the room as well. “I like the chandelier,” she said, her smile happy, but somewhat … confused. “And is that a Picasso over there?”

Joohyun snorted. “It’s one of the boring Picassos,” she said, off-handely. “You can put your food on the coffee table.”

Seulgi wandered over and carefully placed everything down, then turned to Irene. Again, when she regarded her, she frowned. “Irene-sshi?”

“Yes?”

“Do you happen to have a first aid kid in your - your castle?”

Irene straightened herself up. “I assure you, it’s nothing,” she said, motioning towards the scratch on her face with her hand.

It was most unfortunate that this injury had happened on her face. It was the hardest spot to hide - make-up made it worse, bandaids drew more attention to it and without them, Seulgi stared at them.

“It doesn’t look like nothing,” Seulgi said, and stepped a bit closer.

Irene stepped back. “It’s just a light scratch.”

“It looks red.” Seulgi stepped forward once more, her pretty eyes intent on the side of Irene’s face. She tilted her head like a puppy. Irene hated her for it. It weakened her resolve considerably, which in turn made her disappointed in herself, which in turn made her grumpy. But Seulgi’s presence made her quite happy - and the resulting cognitive dissonance was most annoying.

“Because it’s healing,” Irene tried again.

“It could get infected,” Seulgi insisted.

“Nothing gets infected on my watch,” Irene finally ground out, Seulgi’s face hovering way too close.

Seulgi didn’t meet her glance. She stared at the injury, her frown deepening. “Do you have alcohol with preferably over eighty percent and maybe some sort of gauze?”

Irene didn’t respond immediately and when Seulgi just kept staring, she sighed and did a small mental exercise, going over the inventory of the room. “I have a Everlin 62 single malt whiskey in this room. It has an alcohol content of over 90 percent.”

Seulgi shrugged. “That will do.”

Irene stepped back and tilted her head as well, her expression - and she was well aware of this - a little condescending, as she crossed her arms over her chest. “One bottle is worth more that six hundred thousand dollars, Doctor Kang.”

Then Seulgi - Kang Seulgi - did something unexpected. She stepped forward, her smile kind and completely unassuming, as she very gently took hold of Irene’s face to turn it to the side a bit. Assumingly to inspect the damage better, but it really wasn’t that bad - was it?

“But your health is priceless,” Seulgi said.

Irene rarely was speechless - or flustered. But that moment, she wasn’t sure what to say. She looked at Seulgi to see if she was joking but Seulgi just let go of her and stepped back. Irene was slightly disappointed.

“But regular disinfectant will do as well,” Seulgi said and smiled.

In the end, Irene found herself sitting on the couch, one leg bend and on top of it, the other draped down its side, while Doctor Kang sat in front of her, cross-legged, leaning in and dabbing her face, before putting a thin stripe of gauze over the red mark, and even thinner, carefully cut stripes of medical tape to fix it.

“Did this happen once again when you were playing chess?” Seulgi said. It sounded light, but there was a small twinge in her tone that made Irene’s eyes move from the wall behind Seulgi to Seulgi’s face.

“Something like that.” She eyed the other girl. If Doctor Kang would find out who she was, if Doctor Kang had suspicions about Irene’s secret identity and her escapades at night that involved crime fighting and other things, then - and Irene paused at her own thought - she had to stop seeing her.

She needed another doctor, again, and she would have to avoid her at all costs.

“I see.” Seulgi applied the last stripe, then leaned back. Her eyes focused on Irene with something akin to recognition. She reached forward and palmed one of Irene’s hands in her own.

Irene braced herself. Very few people had found out her secret identity. It almost always resulted in unnecessary danger for those close to her. And it always created distance, emotionally and physically, between her and that person - and sometimes heartbreak. If Seulgi would find out that Irene was a vigilante, that she fought evil, that she -

“If you are so clumsy that you hurt yourself regularly, you can tell me,” Seulgi said, her voice gleaming with sincerity. Her eyes looked like a puppy’s. “It’s nothing shameful. Many people are clumsy.”

Irene’s process of thought collapsed like a house of cards. “... what?” she managed.

“It’s nothing bad, I assure you! Some people might find it even endearing!”

Irene just continued to stare.

Seulgi mercilessly marched on. “I am clumsy as well! I once stumbled and crashed into one of our plastic skeletons. I also once got lost in my own department. We really do have a lot of staircases. And that one time, I got tipsy from a beer and stumbled into our department head during an after work birthday party. Or once I fell into a pool and got tangled up into a bra someone had thrown into it.”

Irene stared. “I’m not clumsy!”

“Are you afraid Joy will think less of you if she knows?” Seulgi asked, one hand suddenly on Irene’s shoulder. It was surely meant to be a reassuring gesture, but to Irene, it was utterly confusing. “I’m sure she already knows and is just so kind and won’t mention it.”

“You don’t know Joy very well, do you?” Irene asked dryly.

“And if you want to make sure, I can schedule you an appointment at a neurologist,” Seulgi said. “Although I don’t think it’s a medical problem.”

“Yah. Kang Seulgi.” Irene took a deep breath. “I am not, in any way, unable to control my extremities,” she said very, very slowly, to make sure Doctor Kang understood. “I assure you, both of my recent injuries were just the results of mere accidents and in the future, I will refrain from hurting myself like this.”

Seulgi eyed her, her eyes narrowing. She even looked adorable like that. “Are you sure?”

“Yes. I am sure.”

“Hm.” Seulgi put a last bit of bandaid on the side of Irene’s face, then leaned back. “As your general practitioner, I still have to ask you to be careful.”

“I am not clumsy,” Irene iriterated.

Seulgi was about to reach for Irene’s shoulder - presumably to pat it - but a sudden movement on the couch made both of them jump.

“Nice look.” Joy had plopped down, two pilllows away, Yeri in tow. Yeri was carrying a big box of doughnuts, while Joy carried several cans of Pringles. Seulgi reached happily for one and Irene couldn’t help but frown to the staccato of every bite Seulgi took off one of the potato chips.

“So. What are we going to watch?” Seulgi asked.

“Hashtag Alive?” Joy shrugged. “It’s a fun movie, plus zombies.”

Irene frowned both at another round of Pringles and the mention of zombies. “Or,” she suggested, “we could watch something educational that does not include zombies. Like National Geographic!”

“Booohhh,” came from the younger end of the couch, along with thumbs pointed downwards.

“You don’t even like most animals,” Joy pointed out.

Seulgi looked at her, her expression devastated. “You don’t like animals?”

“I do like animals - from afar,” Irene said.

“She’s scared of most, if not all of them.” Joy rolled her eyes and popped another piece of popcorn into her mouth.

“Which is why I live in a city where most dangerous animals are humans and the furry ones can’t just jump on you,” Irene said pointedly, trying to end the topic, but Joy wouldn’t let her.

“That sloth wasn’t even moving, it was literally hanging around, and yet you were beyond yourself!” Joy said.

“I -”

“Sloths are cute,” Seulgi said.

“Right? I think so too!”

She and Joy exchanged a high five over Irene’s head, whose general mood seemed to drop by the second. “I hope your movie isn’t that scary.”

“She’s also scared of all supernatural elements in movies,” Joy continued to embarrass her. “But then again, it’s super boring to watch mysteries or thrillers with her, because she always figures out who the murderer is within, like, the first four seconds.”

“Well, I do … but it’s not exactly super boring.”

Joy threatened to throw a box of Pringles at her and Irene ducked, yet nothing came flying. “You spoil the murderer every time!”

“Because it’s so easy! Everyone can do that!”

Yeri eyed Irene, braver than most. “You must be fun at parties.”

Joy groaned. “She’s … the worst.”

Seulgi shrugged. Her words resounded even more in the moment of silence after Joy had spoken. “I’d like it if you explained to me who the murderer is. I’m always surprised at the twist.”

They all turned to look at her. There was a smirk on Joy’s face that made Seulgi press harder into the couch.

Seulgi bore their glances valiantly, but her ears turned red. “What? I do never get the twist.”

Yeri somewhat deflated. “Yeah, it’s true. She never does. Not even the Detective Pikachu one.”

“Yah.” Joy nudged her. “That one wasn’t easy to guess!”

Yeri nudged her back. “Are you kidding me? I caught it like during the first five minutes of that movie!”

They continued to bicker happily, leaving Irene and Seulgi to their own devices. “Can you really identify the murderer during the first five minutes?”

“Usually,” Irene nodded. She watched as Joy and Yeri decided on Despicable Me and the movie studio logo appeared on screen.

“That’s like a super power.” Seulgi eyed her and didn’t seem to notice that Irene froze for a moment. Instead, she looked at the older woman with something like admiration.

“Do you have a super power?” Irene asked, trying to divert the subject.

“I can tell at first glance what’s wrong with people,” Seulgi said, a bit proud. She shrugged again. “I guess this makes me kind of a decent doc, no?”

“I guess so.” She looked at Seulgi and still looked at her when Gru and the minions made her laugh. Then she eyed Joy, who threw happily some M&Ms at Yeri and Yeri who threw some back.

The dear doctor next to her and slid down the couch so far that her chin pressed on her clavicle. She fought to keep her eyes open, but at the end of their movie, with dancing chimney sweeps and an older man firing a cannon at his neighbours, she had fallen asleep.

Irene knew immediately she had. She felt her heavy head against her biceps, her arms crossed over her chest, staring at the movie. In the end, she was the only person still away, watching how Mary flew away after having fixed the Banks Family.

She watched the entire credits and six rounds of the animated DVD movie. Not because she liked someone breathing against her arm, because this was, of course, unhygienic, but mostly because … because … Doc Kang was a doctor and in her occupation, sleep was probably a hot commodity.

She dared stealing a glance at the younger woman. Seulgi gave a small semi-snore. Just a tiny sound of the smallest of rustles, her arms crossed as well, her legs spread farther than Irene would ever allow herself to do.

She looked content and happy.

Irene eyed her and then sighed, impatiently.

Carefully, she got up, rounded the couch and then unlocked the mechanism the couch featured, letting the backrest go down very slowly, transforming it into an enormous bed.

She pulled all three sleepers with some effort onto the newly transformed bed and then threw blankets over them.

The logical part of her told her that she had to take the Segway down the hall to her bedroom and sleep there; in her perfectly scented, almost empty, zen-like bedroom with her sleeping mask on and the faint sounds of sea noises coming from her dolby surround system.

Instead, just to make sure nobody was confused when they woke up, or started to wander aimlessly through the mansion to places they didn’t belong, she stretched out the armchair the same manner as the bed.

Then brushed her teeth and changed into pajamas - because she was awake and not a savage - and then went to sleep on the armchair, no two steps away from her two guests and her sister. The last picture she saw before drawing down the sleep mask was how quiet they all looked.

She hadn’t seen Joy this relaxed and quiet since her early teens and she quite never had seen Yeri this quiet. Seulgi, on the other hand, always seemed to be relaxed and somewhat quiet, but at least she looked happy.

It was a disconcerting look she had to get used to first. Then she pulled down her mask and all was gone.

*

She was wearing another mask the next night, standing on a building, watching a group of people trying to move a box of chemical weapons into their van that Irene had glued to the ground with a special kind of superglue only one hour earlier.

It was quite fascinating how hard they tried and how much the box wouldn’t budge. They also got a kind of glitter onto their hands, that was not removable for at least six months, was pink and had a peach scent. Joy was particularly proud of that one as she stood next to Irene and took pictures of the struggling wannabe criminals.

The police were only six blocks away and they came unannounced - no sirens; Irene wouldn’t even have to move a finger for this one.

She eyed Joy, happy under her mask. Now was as good a time as it was always.

“We can’t see Doctor Kang anymore, and by proxy, Yeri,” she said and watched the smile slip from Joy’s face.

Joy turned very slowly towards her. The warning colored her voice in the same yellow infected wounds had. “Say’s who.”

“Says me.” Irene said.

“And why, exactly, do you think that’s a good idea?” Joy asked. She very carefully without making eye contact, put the camera away. It was almost as if she took extra time doing it, giving Irene the possibility to save herself.

“I think Kang Seulgi is able to find out what we do in our free time,” Irene said. “It’s dangerous  for -”

“- for her and for us and the city needs us, yadda, yadda, yadda … this is bullshit,” Joy said.

Irene straightened herself further, if this was even possible. “ Ex cuse me?”

“Doc Sooyoung would have found out eventually as well,” Joy said and she made a circular motion with her hand, describing some sort of imaginary hamster wheel. “And I’m not going to give up my friendship with Yeri just because you want to stay a hermit your entire life.”

“We have a responsibility towards the city,” Irene said. “How can you be so -”

Joy cast her a sharp glance. She knew that glance from her own face. “So what?”

“So selfish ,” Irene shot back. Her anger rarely became hot or bubbling. Instead it became cold, a sharp breeze, filled with icicles that ripped your sin open. “Mom and dad died because …”

“Don’t bring mom and dad into this,” Joy said, stepping angrily towards her sister. “That guy will never see daylight again, you made sure of that, and I’m grateful that you -”

“It was not enough -”

“He got sixty three years -”

“It is not enough -”

“- and the world if save from him -”

“- It’s not enough! There are so many of them and you want me to stop this and you are calling me selfish! How dare you,” Irene seethed. “People. Are. Dying .”

Joy let silence follow, her lips a thin, angry line as she eyed her sister. “You got injured twice last month. You are not like me, you are fragile,” Joy pushed her and ignored the angry ‘hey’ that escaped Irene. “Way more intelligent than what’s good for you, but fragile - and one day you are going to be too fragile and you know what will happen then?”

“I don’t have to listen to this.” Irene was about to turn around but Joy stopped her, a tight grasp on Irene’s forearm.

She was so close that the smaller girl couldn’t move away. “One day you will be too fragile and then I’ll be all alone - and a hermit. Who doesn’t even have friends. So don’t tell me to stop seeing Yeri or Doc Kang.”

Then she stepped off the building, elegant, like a diver dipping into the ocean and Irene refused the urge to look down into the abyss that was the city. It would be empty anyway.

*

The first three days after her argument with Joy, she didn’t see the younger woman at all. Her credit card receipt said she had taken a hotel room at the Seoul Four Seasons and given that she had booked the cartoon channel and ordered enough junk food to feed an army, Irene assumed she was there with Yeri.

Doctor Kang also a bunch of texts that she tried to ignore and instead went on watch three days in a row, staying up long enough that when she arrived at home, she was so tired, she fell asleep the moment her cheek hit the pillow.

She didn’t need Joy. She could take care of herself. She was young and fast and quick and she was not fragile. She was not going to die like her parents had and she would take out all the people who had made her parents die the way they did.

It was a hot, slow anger she felt, like molten lava that surely but steadily burned its way into the ground, unstoppable, untouchable.

The fourth night, it wasn’t then, anymore. Untouchable. Unstoppable.

It was humiliating, really. The guy hadn’t even aimed correctly, just into the general direction and Irene was wearing bullet proof armor that was more expensive than an apartment in the Im Tower. The stupid bullet managed to wedge itself right inbetween the seam of two plates and had enough force left to …

Well.

Irene looked down at herself. Everything was still where it belonged. There was just a small, strange dent there, where it shouldn’t, and she felt something inside herself deflate.

She couldn’t say what it was, but …

Half of her brain was still active, because she lifted her arm, without even looking up, and fired the gun in her hand. A net emerged and wrapped itself around the guy responsible for the strange dent in her armor.

When he complained, the net emitted an electrical charge and he went down.

Irene however didn’t notice much of this - instead she looked down and couldn’t understand what she was seeing or feeling, as her legs buckled and gave way like matchsticks. Then something wet and dark started to pour out of that dent and Irene realized:

It wasn’t a dent, it was a hole. And blood was coming out of her like out of a leaky balloon. She had a few seconds time, before losing consciousness, to be angry at herself for not ducking in time, the manufacturer of armor to produce such a failure of a product and at the guy for his ability to find the single flaw in her entire get-up, aim at it and shoot.

It was an embarrassment in its incompetence, even more so because she didn’t even have time to press the emergency button to summon Joy. Her vital signs would start to die down, setting off the alert, but until then, given the amount of blood that had left her, it could already be too late.

Irene managed to roll her jaw once in annoyance, before she went down. Further final thoughts were spent as to her funeral, which Joy would use to broadcast a big “I told you so” towards the mourners present - who would probably only attend to make sure she was dead.

Her thoughts were rudely interrupted by her upper body being lifted. She managed to blink into a face - Joy’s face - that told of anger and disappointment.

“You are such a fool, unnie,” she whispered.

Then darkness.

Chapter 2: Two.

Two.

 

Irene found herself later, much later, in a bed that was shockingly small in comparison to her own bed, and in a room that was shockingly small in comparison to her own bedroom and when she tried to do something about it, it only resulted in a lot of pain and wrestling around twenty minutes with her blanket that had wrapped itself around her in a way that made it impossible to get it off her.

If anything, she managed to entangle herself even further.

Her rational mind kicked in, annoyed and brilliant. Her body wasn’t able to fight off that blanket, she must have been put under drugs.

It was the thought she had when the door opened and Seulgi - Doctor Kang, she reminded herself - breached in.

“Unnie!” she gasped. “Unnie! What did you do!”

“Getting up,” Irene said with her blank, trademark face but then she followed Seulgi’s eyes. “Oh.”

The blanket was red. It was soaked, thoroughly. With what Irene assumed to be her own blood.

“You ripped up the stitches!” Doctor Kang complained, freeing her from the blanket by lifting it carefully. It just now occured to Irene what she was wearing:

A gray, checkered pair of pajamas, which also, at her stomach area, was soaked red.

“I have stitches?” Irene groaned. She tried to sit up but Seulgi pressed her flat hand on her chest and pushed her right down again.

Joohyun was too shocked at the motion to even respond, her eyes wide, and her body too weak to even voice the protesting: “Yah, what do you think you are doing?” with enough conviction.

Seulgi had brought up a small doctor’s bag, and worked quickly, removing bandages, fixing stitches. Her look of concentration was what Irene concentrated on. She still felt woozy and the idea of pain was so far removed from her, that it seemed like the moon. There, yes, hanging in the sky, but with no immediate effect on her, even if it should.

She knew she was in pain and Seulgi had made it go away.

A few minutes later, Doctor Kang plopped down on the chair next to the bed. “Done.” She let her hands sink, then her eyes moved to meet Irene’s. “How are you feeling? You can’t move around too much.” The concern and the scolding seep easily into each other.

“Where am I?” Irene tried to be annoyed but her voice was nothing more than a croak.

“My apartment,” Doctor Kang said. “More specifically, my bedroom.” When Irene tried to sit up again, Seulgi pushed her gently back against the bed. “You have been shot. Your sister brought you in.”

Irene eyed her. Nothing in Seulgi’s face betrayed anything. It just showed an expression of genuine care and a certain amount of professionalism.

“You have to let me go.”

Seulgi shook her head. “No. You lost too much blood. I can’t let you go. You could die.”

She again moved, but the doctor kept her pinned down. “Doctor Kang -”

Kang Seulgi sighed, then leaned in, her voice insistent, her eyes clear. “You owe me. You were shot. Usually I have to report this. Instead I let Joy carry you in here, I operated a bullet out of you on my kitchen table and let you bleed not only on the carpet, the parquette and my beddings. As your doctor, you are my responsibility and I am not letting you go until you are good.” She shook her head. “Some chess playing you are doing, Miss Bae.”

“I’m an adult,” Irene snapped.

For the first time, Seulgi’s voice grew slightly sharper. “Then behave like one.”

Irene stared at her, her face an icy mask, to mask the punch those words had delivered. Nobody had ever said this to her.

“I beg your pardon?” she said, very, very slowly.

Seulgi did not seem to be deterred. Not even scared. Not even insecure. “Your sister is worried, you are severely injured. If you get up in this kind of state to do God knows what, it is either stupidity or childishness.”

“I have a job to do,” Irene tried, but Seulgi already shook her head.

“Joy said it is being taken care of.” When Irene didn’t react, Seulgi nodded towards the bed. “Go. Sleep. I’ll look after you later.”

There was a slightly muted voice coming from somewhere beyond the bedroom door. “It’s not like I care of anything,” Yeri said, making quite a spectacle out of her bored, uncaring teenage girl persona. “But I mean, she’s not going to die, is she?”

Seulgi looked from the door back to Irene and lifted an eyebrow. “No, she’s not going to die if she stays in bed.”

Irene was angry and mad, at both her own irresponsibility and her weakness and that Joy had brought her into that situation and that Doc Kang was so nice and caring and that Yeri stood in front of the bedroom door, so obviously not caring if Irene was well or not and the entire situation was just so incredibly … frustrating!

But the meds kicked in and she felt weak and the pain throbbed uncomfortably against her side - and then she fell asleep. Doc Kang looked at her, looked after her several times, in the night and later as well and Irene still felt that insatiable anger within her.

Then, finally, real sleep took her and everything went away.

And it was a new day.

*

The seam on her side was thin and perfect. She could see a vague shadow of the black thread through the large Pikachu, water resistant bandage that Seulgi had put right under her ribcage.

And it hurt like hell.

There was a moment when part of her considered running away, but the pain was so acute - corrosive and blistering pain, and for a moment, the feeling dipped her mind into white.

Then it calmed somewhat, as she tried to breath it away, inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale.

It took her an hour for it to make it go away. She wrapped her blanket around her shoulders messily and tried to sit up, testing how the fluffy carpet felt under her toes. The pain was there, insistent, but it had taken a breather as well.

She was able to get out of the bedroom, small steps, tap, tap, tap .

It was a nice apartment, if not a bit small. It had no echo and Irene suspected she could see from one end to the other. There were pictures on the wall of the corridor outside the bedroom.

Of Seulgi, and of Yeri, of school festivals and races. When Yeri was younger, an older couple was on them as well, but when she grew older, it was only Seulgi and her. Irene made her way past these memories towards a living room.

There was the smell of food and someone humming a soft tune.

She immediately catalogued everything: Couch, TV, an armchair with a reading light, a dinner table made for four, a counter with a kitchen behind it … and Kang Seulgi, cooking.

She wore a gray sweater, and sweatpants and bunny slippers on a pink apron, as she poked at something in the pan.

For a moment, Irene stared, her side hurting. She had seen this kind of scenes only in TV shows or movies. Then she cleared her throat.

Seulgi froze and turned around. Her smile was hesitant. “You shouldn't be up. Are you bleeding?”

Joohyun shook her head, but didn’t say anything and watched as Seulgi rolled her lips inward for a moment, before motioning towards the armchair. “Please sit.”

It wasn’t courtesy, Joohyun realized. It was … worry. She trudged around and took a seat on the armchair and only then was Seulgi able to continue cooking.

“Do you like bibimbap?” Seulgi asked, as she turned, setting down a bowl with meat to a long line of other bowls. 

The smell and the overwhelming taste of it. Irene couldn’t say she did, but … it was self-made and Seulgi had prepared half a dozen toppings for it.

“On occasion,” she said, as she got up and took a seat on the dinner table. Seulgi carried over two generously decorated bowls.

“Thank you for cooking for me.”

“I’m your doctor, right?” Seulgi smiled and then sat down as well. “I will eat well.”

“May I ask, where’s your sister?” Joohyun asked carefully, as she let one arm rest on her lap, the other moving to grasp the spoon.

“AV club. Joy’s picking her up after her courses,” Seulgi said.

“I see.” Irene stabbed at the food and then thought about how Joy was babysitting Yeri while Seulgi was babysitting her. It didn’t sit right with her but what could she do? She looked up and still stabbed at her food. “You can’t keep me here.”

Seulgi shrugged, a half smile, unsure but hopeful on her face. “I was hoping you’d stay voluntarily.”

“I have a job to do.”

“Joy said herself and a blonde friend of yours take care of that.”

Irene cursed on her breath and stabbed harder at her food. Then proceeded to eat it silently. She could feel Seulgi’s eyes on her, but the other woman didn’t say anything. Instead she silently finished her own plate then got up and did both their dishes, for which Irene thanked her and apologized for, and then prepared herself for an evening of boredom and plans of escape. 

Doctor Kang eyed her and then disappeared in the corridor. Moments later she returned, a box under her arm. She set it down on the living room table and opened it, folding it apart.

Joohyun, still sitting at the dinner table, wasn’t sure if the other woman made fun of her or was actually serious. “What is that?”

Seulgi smiled and motioned at the chess game. “Since this game is so dangerous, I would like to experience it myself.”

“Doctor Kang …”

“Please. Seulgi.” She plopped down on the couch and motioned towards the armchair. Then she started to set up the board. “I can’t play it. I mean - not really. My father taught me, but … just because you know the rules doesn’t mean you are good at playing something, right?”

Irene watched her set up the game, as she got up with some trouble and then hobbled over to the armchair. “I happen to be very good at it.”

Seulgi laughed. “Joy warned me. So show me. I want to see what’s so dangerous about it.”

Irene looked up sharply, suspicious and … hesitant? Seulgi knew it was a lie - it was obviously a lie about how she had acquired her injuries. But there was no tension, no accusation, just a gentle and slightly amused smile and a chess board.

Irene took a deep breath. “Alright.”

“Alright!” Seulgi echoed. She clapped her hand, her smile bright. “I’m white, I begin, right?”

“Yes,” Irene said. “You go first.”

And she did. And after a few moves, Joohyun knew that the woman in front of her had no idea how to play chess properly or what she was doing. It was fun to frown and then watch Seulgi get nervous at the frown and reconsider her moves - and after three games, Seulgi leaned back into the couch after having tipped over her king.

“I’m really bad at this,” she mumbled.

Joohyun laughed, a genuine laughter, she could tell, because it made her scar hurt. “Yes, but I’ve been playing since I was six and my father was a tough opponent.”

Seulgi smiled. “I guess he taught you well.”

Joohyun remembered him, her smile still half there. “He did.”

Seulgi eyed her from under her eyebrows. She seemed grumpy but it seemed superficial. “Do you play any other games besides Chess?”

Irene shrugged. “What do you have?”

Seulgi thought for a long moment. “Do you know the one with the plastic bulldog and you have to pull its teeth and it tries to bite you and -”

“I’m not going to play that with you,” Irene said immediately.

“But why? It’s really funny.”

“No.”

“And Yeri’s favorite.”

“No.”

“But why not?”

She eyed Seulgi, who looked at her with earnest, big and expectant eyes. “It makes me nervous.”

Seulgi paused. “The small, fake plastic bulldog makes you nervous ?”

Irene sat up straighter and smoothed down her pants, ignoring the small itch of her stitches. “I am choosing my battles very carefully and this is one I am deliberately choosing to avoid.”

Seulgi eyed her, her smile disbelieving and amused. “I see. Mario Cart?”

“No.”

“Smash Bros?”

“No.”

Seulgi grinned. “Pokémon?”

Irene almost huffed in indignation. “ Most certainly not.”

And the doctor laughed: Heu, heu, heu. “Then let’s watch a movie. Everybody likes Pixar, right?” She got up and stepped over and Irene surprised herself to let her help her up. Carefully she made her way to the couch with one arm of Seulgi’s carefully slung around her midsection. It was nice being helped by someone, if a bit strange.

And Seulgi - Doctor Kang - was a good helper. She was friendly about it and treated Joohyun … in a way Joohyun couldn’t quite place. “Carefully, unnie. Don’t fall, because it will open all over again and you shouldn’t be out of bed to begin with.”

Joohyun held on to Seulgi’s arm. “Why are you allowing me to be up like this then?”

“Because if I would ask you to stay in bed, you would get up on your own and do God knows what,” Seulgi said and slowly helped Joohyun to sink onto the couch. Her arms were around her midsection. “Like this, you are at least in a controlled environment.” Seulgi snorted, when Joohyun almost fell to her side. “God, unnie, your sister was right, you really don’t have any sense of self-preservation.”

Irene replied to the snort with one of her own, but a part of her hurt. Even from afar, even after not having seen Joy for such a long time, she could feel the anger her sister had for her - and deep down, the hurt.  “She said that?”

“Differently, but that was the gist.” Seulgi plopped down next to her and booted up Disney Plus. “What do you like to watch?”

“How about In and Out ?” Irene suggested, after watching the tiles of the different movies wander over the screen.

Doctor Kang shot her a quick glance, but then nodded. “Sure.”

The movie came up and Seulgi disappeared in the kitchen to come back with water and potato chips, which Joohyun adamantly refused, calling them a grain of sand for her perfectly oiled and carefully balanced system, only then to eat half of the entire package.

“You are a bad doctor,” Irene said, her lips covered with crumbs.

On the screen, Joy, the character, not the sister, lived out her tendency as a drama queen. Quite fitting, Joohyun thought.

She lifted the package and her eyebrows lifted. “One hundred gramm have over five hundred calories!” Irene was impressed, despite herself. “These are pre-packaged heart attacks!”

“They make all the cells in your brain glow, yes,” Seulgi said. She sat next to her and leaned over. “Sadly, given the exhausting lives our ancestors lived, our bodies kind of live for this.”

While she was talking, Irene looked up at the other woman. It was a strange thing - of course, Joohyun had friends and she talked to them regularly, but they weren’t the kind of people that lounged on her various couches and watched Disney Plus with her.

She hadn’t seen any of them outside of evening wear, she realized, and most of their mansions had an echo. Currently, if she craned her head enough, she would probably see Seulgi’s bathroom (1) from where she said and also a bit of the door of her bedroom (1).

And yet, she felt … cozy. And safe. And … comfortable.

Was this the reason why Joohyun’s only other friend outside of Joy and her evening-attire-clique, that one very special friend with the red cape and the blue tights, preferred to live in an apartment? Preferred to live a regular, normal life, despite the fact that she could probably use her abilities to make lots of money?

Preferred to have the people around her close - and not needing a Segway to get to their rooms in time?

Seulgi, still talking about calories, ancestors and potato chips, smiled at something and turned to look at Joohyun. She could see the younger woman immediately notice the closeness and then look away, still laughing, but this time a bit more shyly. Joohyun had seen the slight blush on her cheeks and had felt … felt … something.

Irene wouldn’t let anything taint the light conversation they had, so she just continued. “Why don’t you then just snack on cucumbers?”

“I don’t like cucumbers,” Seulgi said, staring ahead. A bit of her easier smile had returned and Irene felt herself relax.

By the end of the movie where Feelings Had Saved The Day(™)! , Irene had slumped down a bit on the couch, the pain nothing more but a faint buzz, her upper body heavy against Doctor Kang’s side. Seulgi, next to her, seemed to have been caught by a food coma of way too many potato chips.

Three packages laid strewn around them.

The credits rolled and Seulgi turned off the TV. She looked down at Joohyun, now way smaller like this. “Time to go to bed.”

Joohyun looked up at her. “Doctor’s orders?” she asked, her voice somewhat hoarse.

Seulgi nodded.

Irene nodded as well, then looked forward, staring at the black screen, while the doctor’s glance still was on her, she could tell.

“Why don’t you ask how this happened?” She motioned towards her side. “I mean - it’s obvious it’s not from chess.”

Seulgi shrugged. Joohyun could feel it, by the way the body moved up and down next to her. “It could be. I have no idea how people with money play chess.”

“Seulgi -”

“Or how you play chess. Maybe while paragliding in the Andes?” This time Joohyun met Seulgi’s happy glance and she was not amused. Seulgi’s smile dimmed as well.

“It was not while paragliding in the Andes,” Joohyun stated.

Seulgi took a deep sigh. “I assumed as much.”

“Why don’t you ask then?” Because Seulgi had every right to. Joohyun was inconveniencing her beyond imagination, basically having moved in - and forcing Seulgi to continue with her job as a doctor after work. Not to mention that the woman cooked for her and probably had changed her into different clothes.

And the entire thing cost her money too - Joohyun was sure Joy had taken care of this, but it did cost money and money was not something that couldn’t pay for Seulgi’s time.

Seulgi next to her stretched out her legs. “I’m sure you would tell me once you are ready.”

“You did not ask Joy when she arrived with my bloodied body on your doorstep?” Irene asked, craning more to see Seulgi’s expression.

Seulgi looked down at her, a crooked smile on her face. “She told me herself, without me asking. She said you were being an idiot and this is what had happened.”

Irene stared at her. “Yah,” she said quietly. “Kang Seulgi!”

Seulgi shrugged once more, shy for reasons Irene wasn’t able to point a finger at. She stretched once more, eying her own hands. Her smile was adorable and friendly, as she continued: “I have a secret myself, you know?”

Despite knowing, truly being aware, that nothing here posed any kind of danger for her, she still tensed. “A secret?”

“It’s nothing bad!” Seulgi quickly hurried to say. “Nothing dangerous! Just - just … surprising. Just that. Yeah …” She still didn’t look at Irene and instead played with her own fingers, shy. “When you are ready to tell me yours, I’m ready to tell you mine.” She turned to look down at Irene who was threatened to be swallowed by the couch. “Deal?”

“Deal,” Joohyun said slowly, looking up at her host. Her interest had been piqued before, but now it was almost stabbing her into the side.

Seulgi stared at her and then quickly had to look away. Irene didn’t know why - she hadn’t even done anything.

“Bed,” Seulgi declared. “Off you go.” She peeled herself off the couch and very carefully helped Joohyun to stand. “And we’ll check your dressing before you go to bed. I bet it has bled through once more.”

“I can walk by myself,” Irene said, in a sudden bout of ill-placed independence, and when Seulgi stepped away, she realized just how much the other woman had supported her - and she barely caught herself from transforming into a heap on the couch.

Seulgi caught her. Her smile transformed her eyes into crescent moons one more. “You were saying?”

“I will - soon - be able to walk by myself again,” Irene grumbled, as Seulgi helped her down the corridor towards the bedroom.

She placed her on the side of the bed and then went to get a medkit, while Joohyun waited. She felt uncomfortable sitting, something getting squashed while she sat upright. She moved on her bottom, trying to find a comfortable position, but couldn’t find one.

Seulgi returned and sat down next to her. “Lift your shirt?” she asked softly and when Joohyun did like she was asked, there was an immediate frown on her face. She took a spray out of the small box she had brought and put it on Joohyun, then slowly removed the bandage.

Sliding off the bed, she knelt down to be at a better height for the injury and started to clean it, cold gauze dabbing the red wound. Irene watched her work, the expression on Doctor Kang’s face so different from her usual soft and relaxed face, as she worked.

She continued to stare, as Seulgi put disinfectant on the wound, then a cream and then a big patch of bandaid, before rolling back on her feet, losing balance and landing on her bum. She sat there, on the floor and looked up at Joohyun, who was on the bed. Her smile was cute and a bit crooked.

There was a pause, then.

“All done,” Seulgi said and her smile brightened when she met Irene’s gaze.

Irene wanted to say thank you but couldn’t the first time, so she cleared her throat and tried again: “Thank you.”

Seulgi smiled, her expression softening if that was even possible. “You are welcome.”

They stared at each other for a long, long moment and Irene didn’t even know what prompted her to say it, because Seulgi was far away on the floor and didn’t even touch her and had done something exceedingly unromantic, by basically poking at her inners and disinfecting a wound.

But still she suddenly felt warm and … cornered and … and …

“I - I need to wash up. I need to go to the bathroom,” she suddenly said and the soft, particular smile slipped off Seulgi’s face and she scrambled to her feet.

“Of course! Of course! I - I - the orange toothbrush is yours,” she said.

Moments later, Joohyun was alone in the bathroom, clinging to the sink. She breathed heavily and her injury throbbed at her side. Looking at herself in the mirror, she found that she was paler than usual and weirdly out of breath.

This - this entire situation was not good. Seulgi was way too close, way too friendly, way too polite, way too nice.

Joohyun felt comfortable around her, which would inevitably lead to trust, which was something that was a dangerous thing in the kind of occupation Joohyun had. And yet, she was stuck here, because she couldn’t move, because she was in pain, because Joy had dropped her at someone else’s house and just left her there.

Joy.

Where was she anyway? She hadn’t heard of her. Her and Yeri were still out and about  - and Irene knew that she was angry. Still was angry.

Later on, when Irene laid in her bed, her guest bed in the dark in Seulgi’s apartment, she played with her cellphone and there was no Joy. She had written to her several times, but Joohyun was left on unread and Joohyun didn’t even own a credit card to buy a ticket to get back to Bae Manor.

You could buy tickets with a credit card, right?

She wasn’t sure.

And then there was this other thing. Joohyun punched the buttons of her online game angrily as she thought about the other thing .

The other thing was the worst thing on the planet.

The other thing bothered her more than anything else in her current situation, made her angry at herself, at Joy, at Seulgi, at Yeri, even though she didn’t have to do anything with this situation. The other thing was just completely unacceptable.

The other thing was that despite the absence of a credit card, of Joy’s presence, of stalking through the night and punching people’s faces, Irene felt … at ease. She felt comfortable.

She felt safe in this miniature apartment that was not even in Gangnam. She had felt at ease lounging on Seulgi’s couch, watching some ridiculous Disney movie with her, eating dinner with her.

She even liked it when Seulgi took care of her injury. Despite the fact that Joohyun was vulnerable that moment and that Seulgi could pull out a knife and stab her at any moment.

Joohyun punched her mobile game again. Some candies evaporated into nothingness.

Of course the rational part of her mind informed her that Seulgi would probably not take out a knife and then stab her; she was a normal person, regular even, and she worked at a normal job in some normal, regular hospital, where she did normal things, and –

– in her mind, regular, normal Seulgi crouched in front of her, taking care of her stitches, then lost her balance and fell back on her bum. Then looked up and smiled brightly at her, her ears red a bit.

Irene punched her mobile game harder, more angry at herself and the world. And at the same time, she looked forward to tomorrow, to breakfast, to a day that was easy, and bright and happy. She was cared for for the very first time in her life and the feeling … didn’t suck entirely.

She set the cellphone down on her nightstand, pulled up the blankets right up to her nose and petulantly glowered at the bright, beautiful moon, as she basked in her happiness.

Life … truly sucked.

*

The next day, she woke up, like every day, at six o’clock sharp. Her side hurt and blood had seeped through the bandaid.

She tried to remove it, but some of the dry blood was glued to the bandaid and she knew, if she ripped it off, it would open the wound again, so she let it be. Seulgi would help her later with this.

Sullen, with a blanket draped across her shoulders, she made her way towards the kitchen. The first rays of clouded sunlight streamed in, touching both kitchen and living room with heavy, silver light. She opened the fridge and surveyed its contents, then started to make breakfast:

Coffee with milk, slightly toasted bread with goat cheese, figs and walnuts and soft boiled eggs. She leaned against the counter and waited for the eggs, when something on the couch moved. Joohyun caught herself the last moment, about to throw an orange after the movement.

The movement, clad in what Joohyun assumed were pajamas, turned out to be Doctor Kang.

“What are you doing, up, and in my kitchen?” Seulgi asked, a mixture of alarm and sleepiness in her voice.

“What are you doing on the couch?” Joohyun asked, sharply.

Seulgi managed to sit up. Her hair was a mess and the blanket slid from her shoulder down and gathered around her midsection. She rubbed her eyes. “Sleeping.”

“Why are you not sleeping in your bed?” Joohyun asked.

Seulgi, despite still being halfway in dreamland, managed to look up at Joohyun with some confusion. “It’s taken.”

Joohyun wasn’t that fast. She blamed the morning and the absence of coffee. “By whom?”

“You,” Seulgi answered, at the same time as Joohyun said: “Oh.” She stared at Seulgi, rolling this new situation through her brain, as she bit her lip. “You’ve been sleeping on the couch since I’ve been here?”

“Yes,” Seulgi said. She stretched and then rolled her head from one shoulder to the other. Joohyun could hear all her vertebraes crack.

“What about Yeri’s bed?”

Seulgi looked at her, concerned for her head, it seemed. “Yeri is sleeping in Yeri’s bed,” she said. “And Joy is sleeping on her couch.”

“Joy is here?” Irene asked.

“She is.”

Joohyun pressed her lips together as she watched Seulgi stretch and heard more cracking bones. The couch was most certainly not fine, but Seulgi didn’t seem to care. Her attention moved away from the couch to what Joohyun had placed on the kitchen island.

“You made breakfast!” Seulgi almost skipped over. “You used the toaster! To make breakfast!”

Joohyun frowned. “I - did. Are you usually not using the toaster for breakfast?”

“I’m usually not using the toaster, period,” Seulgi said. “I prepare Yeri’s breakfast the evening before and I myself usually only have coffee.”

“What do you eat, then?”

“Sandwiches,” Seulgi said. “At work.”

Joohyun eyed her, and pressed her lips together even harder. “You don’t properly eat at work?”

Seulgi shrugged. “I have a stressful job.”

“I, too, have a stressful - you really need to eat properly,” Joohyun said, suddenly very strict. She stepped closer to Seulgi, who leaned against the kitchen island. Tugging at her sleeve to make her turn towards Joohyun, she said sternly: “You have to eat three main meals, morning, noon, evening, and smaller dishes in between for a balanced and not to mention healthy diet. You have to get all your nutrients, vitamins and the correct amount of calories - and, God, Seulgi, you are a doctor. You should know this.” She tugged at Seulgi’s sleeve again.

She wanted to continue, but as Seulgi listened to her ranting, she smiled, and her smile grew by the moment. And Joohyun suddenly felt self-conscious.

Seulgi seemed to notice even that and smiled brighter. “I do know,” she said.

There was a fake, hollow cough coming from the corridor. Irene could identify it anywhere. “I’m sorry,” Joy said, her voice dripping with pretense. “Are we interrupting?”

Irene turned her head - and there she was. She looked like she had never even left, except that she was wearing a pink pair of pajamas and a sleep mask that said Offline sat on her forehead. Her face sported the kind of mad, annoyed expression Joohyun was so used to.

“Joy.”

“Big sister,” Joy said. She took a glance at the breakfast Joohyun had prepared and stole a piece of toast bread. “You look … alive.”

“You seem disappointed.”

“I have had some hopes as to your credit cards,” Joy said. She chewed on her bread and swallowed. “Welcome back among the living.”

“Thank you,” Irene said and Joy wandered away. Seulgi nudged her gently when Joy passed her, but the younger girl just huffed. There was a moment when Seulgi winked at her and Irene could see the faintest of smiles on Joy’s face, but then she disappeared in the bathroom.

Huh.

Seulgi returned to look at Joohyun. “So - breakfast?”

Joohyun eyed her, trying to find out what she was thinking. “Breakfast,” she said slowly.

Seulgi made her sit at the dinner table, and brought the coffee and the toast over, then turned on the singular lamp. It was almost too bright for the early morning and the younger woman blinked helplessly against the intensity.

“Do you have to work today?” Joohyun asked, trying to find a comfortable position on her chair. Her side pulsed slightly, but so far, no blood.

Seulgi shook her head as she poured the coffee. “No. It’s my weekend and then I’m off for a bit.”

“It’s Wednesday.”

“I’m always working. So sometimes the weekend is Wednesday.” She pushed a bunny cup towards Joohyun and offered her milk. “When Yeri has school stuff on the weekends, I try to take a regular weekend, but usually it’s Wednesday and Thursday, because supermarkets are a bit emptier on these days.”

Joohyun nodded, pretending to be aware that supermarkets were emptier on Wednesdays and Thursdays, as she watched Seulgi take a big bite off her toast. She smiled a big smile at her, adorned by breadcrumbs and Joohyun couldn’t help but sigh at the sight and hand her a napkin.

“So we are going to go grocery shopping today?” Joohyun asked, then took a bite herself.

Seulgi shook her head. “You can’t go. You are still injured.”

“I can walk.”

“You can stay on the couch and watch dramas.”

“I can slowly walk,” Joohyun suggested. She shrugged. “Plus, I’ve never been at a supermarket. It might be an interesting experience.”

Seulgi froze opposite of her and narrowed her eyes. “What do you mean, you’ve never been at a supermarket?”

“She’s a hermit antisocial billionaire!” Joy called from somewhere from the bathroom. “Why would she go to the supermarket and associate with common folk?”

Joohyun dabbed her lips with the napkin, careful to conceal her expression of embarrassment and rage at her sister and thought about which of her credit cards she should block first. “I’ve never been to a supermarket.” Seulgi still stared. “I have a personal chef.” More staring. “And he has someone who goes grocery shopping for him.”

“But - but you are able to cook,” Seulgi said slowly.

“And hunt, if necessary. You’ve seen what was on the wall in my -” Mansion. Villa. Basically a palace. “House. Should the occasion call for it, I’m able to survive.”

“Well, probably not, because you’ve never been in a supermarket,” Seulgi said.

“It’s not necessary for me to go,” Irene said.

Yeri materialized out of nowhere, dressed in her school uniform, packing her food. “What if there’s a zombie apocalypse and you need to raid one. Do you even know how to check out?”

Irene stared at her. Did you have to check out of a supermarket even in case of a zombie apocalypse? Was there some sort of system that blocked you from leaving if you didn’t show it the money or your credit card? They never showed that part in the movies. She stared at the creepy High Schooler whose face didn’t betray anything.

Seulgi, however …

“Yeri …”

“What. It’s a valid question. She might not even know where the laundry softeners are located. How can she survive a zombie apocalypse like this?”

“Yeri,” Seulgi said again.

Yeri closed her backpack, food and water inside. “I will see myself out,” she finally said carefully.

Seulgi smiled. “Have fun at school. You too, Joy.”

Joy leaned against the door and watched Seulgi ruffle Yeri’s hair, while the smaller girl tried to wrestle Seulgi’s hands away. Seulgi laughed and gave a wave and both girls - you women - left the apartment. Irene could hear their bickering out in the corridor and then the staircase.

She never heard Joy bicker like this. She usually disappeared quietly every morning - and some evenings as well.

Irene’s face was serious as she turned to Seulgi. “You can just walk out with groceries during a zombie apocalypse, right?”

Doctor Kang grinned. “Yes.” A beat. “How do you survive all by yourself?”

“I manage,” Irene said, somewhat pointedly.

Seulgi’s grin turned more teasing, but it was still gentle - so gentle. “You’ve almost died twice in my bedroom.”

Joohyun tried very hard not to smile. “It might have something to do with your bedroom,” she suggested.

“Pffff,” Seulgi said. She had finished the first slice and clapped her hands to get rid of the crumbs. Joohyun handed her a second napkin. “More with the occupant.”

“So it’s settled then.” Joohyun straightened herself a bit. “I will accompany you to grocery shopping. You can keep an eye on me like that,” Joohyun added. “Who knows, maybe I’m going to do something stupid like situps, while you are away.”

“You wouldn’t dare!” Seulgi said and Joohyun was amused that her righteous bout of anger was actually serious.

The doctor eyed her, sizing her up. Joohyun could tell that she was thinking about it, but was not completely convinced yet. It was true: She had bled all over Seulgi’s bed the other day, but being stuck in an apartment was driving her crazy.

“How about we first check your sutures and then we decide. If it looks infected or in any way bad, then you’ll stay on the couch and watch Hotel Del Luna on Netflix. And no situps.”

Joohyun shrugged with one shoulder. “Fair.” She cast Seulgi a short glance, then took two bites off her toast. 

Seulgi laughed her typical laughter. She motioned at her stomach. “Would you lift your shirt?”

“You never make me lay down,” Joohyun said, as she sat back and leaned against the couch, lifting her shirt to reveal her stomach.

“Joy said you don’t like to lay down, because it robs you of your feeling of control,” Seulgi said, eying the bandaid that only showed a tiny dot of blood. “Wait, I’ll get my things.”

Joohyun watched her look at her stomach intently, then she got up and came back with her small emergency box. She desinfected her hands and then very carefully removed the bandaid, spraying a fluid on it to dissolve the glue.

“It looks quite good.” Seulgi looked up and met Joohyun’s eyes, her smile relieved and happy. “Just a bit of blood, almost no redness.” She moved her head from one said to the other, weighing in her opinion. “You still need to be careful. I’ll disinfect it and put a new bandaid on it. Then you can shower.”

Joohyun didn’t say anything, just watched the other woman. She did disinfect it and then put an ointment on and finally a big piece of band aid that sealed it completely off and kept water away. Seulgi worked carefully, her fingertips soft and careful, like butterflies.

As if Joohyun was something fragile.

Joohyun had never felt fragile, in her life. She had been able to incinerate people with a single glance and made large groups of them part before her like the Red Sea. She had taken on men twice her size. She had protected and led a company and a city.

She was anything but fragile.

But when Doctor Kang touched her like she was a dandelion, ready to fall apart, she felt fragile.

Well. No. Not fragile.

She felt taken care off.

And this hadn’t happened since her parents had died.

Because usually, it had been Irene who had taken care of people: of Joy, of the house, of the company, of the city. The feeling of someone else stitching her together …

Irene was not sure what to make of it.

She’s a doctor. It’s her job. She has to make sure you don’t die.

“I’ll shower now,” Joohyun said suddenly and shakily managed to get to her feet. Seulgi leaned back but her hands shot forward, hovering closeby in case Irene fell over.

She didn’t. But she shook slightly, because Seulgi … because Kang Seulgi …

She made it towards the bathroom and Seulgi convinced her not to lock the door. Because if something happened and she wouldn’t be able to get up - “I don’t want to break the door, Joohyun-sshi,” Seulgi told her.

And it made sense. But that moment, Joohyun really, desperately wanted to lock the door. She washed away her embarrassment and her tension under the shower and stepped out, feeling more herself.

Safer. More confident. Put together.

The feeling flickered only a bit when she faced Seulgi outside in the corridor. She smiled at the other woman, who was wrapped in a towel that she wrapped even tighter around herself when she noticed Seulgi.

“Do you need help dressing yourself?” Seulgi asked her.

Irene immediately shook her head. “No. I can do that by myself.” Was that panic in her voice? It was most definitely not panic in her voice.

“Alright.” Seulgi still smiled at her but stepped aside.

When Joohyun left the bedroom, dressed, only slightly shaken and prepared to go grocery shopping, she found Seulgi in the living room, wearing a gray v-neck with a white t-shirt underneath. She looked up from her cell phone when Irene entered the room.

“If it’s too much, you are in pain or bleeding, we will return home, alright?” Seulgi said as she got up and pocketed her cellphone.

“How old do you think I am?”

“It’s not a matter of age, it’s a matter of stubbornness,” Seulgi informed her.

Irene huffed and rolled her eyes.

They left the apartment with a large basket and took the elevator towards the parking lot below the building. It was located in a nice neighborhood; not as nice as Joohyun’s, of course, but one with good schools and some restaurants Joohyun knew.

Seulgi drove a spacy white Volkswagen that was filled with stuff that belonged that Joohyun couldn’t tell if it was Yeri’s or Seulgi’s: school books, a teddy bear, two sports bottles and an incomplete collection of Jaxon pens. She cast all the items a questionable glance and Seulgi smiled and shrugged.

“It’s … hobby related,” she said.

“You draw?”

“On occasion, when I have time. I dance as well!” she said, somewhat proudly.

The car left the parking lot.

“Ballet?” Joohyun asked.

“Modern,” the doctor answered.

Joohyun eyed her, as Seulgi concentrated on the street and the traffic. She couldn’t imagine her dancing, because the environment she usually observed her in was so diametrically opposed to a dancing studio. There were desks involved and medical equipment and that strange male nurse that worked for her.

A dance studio was an empty space, filled with art created by moving bodies.

Bodies in Seulgi’s workplace moved as well, but mostly because they were writhing from pain or needed to be fixed - while dancing seemed to celebrate the perfection of human form in motion.

Maybe it was something that Seulgi enabled people to do again after they saw her: the ability to move properly once more.

They made their way to the parking lot and then, much to Joohyun’s annoyance and to some softer feelings, Seulgi didn’t let her open the door or push the cart or walk faster than the lady in her mid 80s walking springly in front of them.

Then they entered the supermarket.

Joohyun immediately noted several things she didn’t not approve of. The choice of music was a sweet kind of generic pop, that she liked to a melon. Melons, as an idea, were wonderful, but this one had lain one two many days in the sun - and while it was still a Melon, and still sweet, it had a strange kind of aftertaste to it that made Joohyun feel slightly nauseous.

For some reasons the sign advertising the animal food aisle was next to the sign advertising for socks and underwear - and Joohyun found this not only made no sense but also tickled her sense of hygiene somewhere deep inside.

Also: Just why?

And then the third one:

“Do you want to taste these dried avocado stripes that taste like chocolate?”

Before Joohyun could stop her, Seulgi already skipped over and Joohyun followed her, slowly. Her speed was not related to her injury. Judging by the salesperson’s unenthusiastic face, Joohyun shared her opinion of the product.

“Dried avocado stripes that taste like chocolate?” Seulgi asked.

“Why would you dry avocado and make it taste like chocolate?” Irene asked.

“Why not? It’s a brand new idea!” Seulgi said.

“But we already have avocado. And chocolate,” Irene said.

“Unnie,” Seulgi said, “it might be twice the fun that way!”

“It also might be fun in a gross way,” Joohyun grumbled.

Seulgi smiled impossibly bright at her, her eyes perfect crescents. “But fun either way!”

The salesperson behind the food sampling stand held one piece of avocado in a pair of pliers. Bright red letters on her cap said “Choclacado.”

Irene groaned at the choice of brand naming.

“Maybe you should work here,” the man grumbled at Seulgi’s undeterred enthusiasm.

Seulgi picked up the offered piece and bit a chunk of it off. The following expression was hard for Joohyun to interpret. The salesperson seemed to have the same problem.

“Do you like it?” he asked.

Seulgi chewed slowly, her face neutral. “It was a very interesting taste,” she said. She nudged Joohyun very carefully. “You try as well.”

“I’d rather not,” Joohyun said.

“It’s vegan and chocolatey,” the salesperson said as if advertising a particularly boring spot on a graveyard.

“And it contains vitamin d,” Seulgi said, pointing at the advertisement.

Joohyun eyed her hopeful expression, then sighed and picked up a piece. When she ate it and the flavor started to spread all across her palate, she started to wonder about and question a lot of things.

One of them was how someone thought it was a good idea to make avocado taste like chocolate. And then produced this kind of thing and thought that it was actually convincing.

It reminded her of someone taking the underside of a shoe, cutting it into stripes, marinating it in the approximate idea of chocolate, adding a ton of chalk and then throwing it at potential customers.

She considered finding out the name of the company, buying it, firing everyone who thought making this was a good idea and making sure this product would never see the light of the sun and then produce chocolate and avocados separately.

“This is dreadful,” she commented. “Truly. And I do not use this word lightly.”

Seulgi’s smile was bright. “I’d take two bags please!”

Joohyun eyed Seulgi and questioned her sanity. The salesman questioned her sanity. Seulgi bought four hundred grams of dried avocado that tasted like the chalky idea of chocolate.

When they were out of earshot, Joohyun asked:

“Why on Earth did you do that?”

Seulgi laughed - heu, heu, heu. “I already saw that this would probably taste bad. But Yeri has a hobby.”

Joohyun hesitated, not sure if she wanted to go there. Her curiosity as to Seulgi’s bratty little sister got the better of her. “What kind of hobby?”

“She arranges bad tasting food in a really pretty way and serves it to people. Then she makes them take a bite and takes a picture of their face,” Seulgi grinned, then shrugged. “I told her if it’s not bad for people’s health, I don’t mind. This one even has vitamins! I was her victim many times.”

“That’s devious,” Joohyun said, her concern genuine. “The poor people.”

Seulgi still smiled, aiming with their shopping card for the fish and meat section. “She will feed this to Joy.”

Joohyun paused to consider this thought. Then, she said, very calmly, her face a mask: “We should buy another bag.”

Seulgi laughed and very carefully pushed her towards the cart on their way to the meat aisle.

They both liked balanced diets, but didn’t refuse meat if it was placed in front of them. Seulgi made sure there were enough vegetables in their card and Joohyun picked cereals for grown ups and Seulgi picked cereals for children that had googly eyes on them.

Joohyun could feel exhaustion creep up on her and the girl next to her seemed to notice as well and walked slower. Irene took a seat under a plastic palm tree and watched two older ladies have a discussion about the importance of softener. She had one hand on the filled cart, in case someone wanted to steal veggies, meat and a week worth of avocado.

Moments later, Seulgi joined her and plopped down next to her, a cone of soft ice in each hand. She handed Irene the vanilla cone, who took it after a moment of hesitation.

A handful of tissues followed.

Joohyun hesitated. “I usually don’t eat anything that can’t be eaten with cutlery.”

Seulgi shrugged. “You are missing out.”

Joohyun eyed her, then eyed the icecream and started to lick. It was difficult not to make a mess, but with enough speed, carefully applied eating tactics and keeping an eye on all the drops that started to make their downstairs, she managed to reduce the ice cream to a safe amount.

Then she looked up at Seulgi - and Seulgi …

… smiled at her, a second smile around her regular one, completely compromised out of ice cream. Joohyun tried not to be surprised. “What are you - god, you are making a mess.”

She pulled out a tissue and reached over. Seulgi took it and without even a dent in her happiness, dabbed the ice cream away. “Why are you not making a mess, unnie?”

Joohyun rolled her eyes. “Aigoo, aigoo.”

“I’m just enjoying the ice cream more than you,” Seulgi continued to weakly defend herself.

Joohyun pulled more tissues out. “Aigoo, aigoo!”

She noticed three things: That she was smiling brightly at Seulgi, which was a rare thing in itself. And that Seulgi smiled back, happily and bright, while she cleaned her lips. And that the throbbing at her side was just a mere pulse in the far distance.

When they left the mall, Joohyun still leaning slightly to the left to keep away pressure from her injury, for medical reasons purely, she hooked herself under Seulgi’s arm.

The girl by Joohyun’s side stiffend to a robot, as she stared ahead mechanically, her previously relaxed gait suddenly like a soldier’s.

Joohyun bit away a laughter, but still smiled, when Seulgi didn’t push her away, didn’t make any kind of movement at all to get rid of her. Instead, her ears turned red and she bit her lip and stayed close to Jooyhun until they arrived at the car.

*

They spent the late morning shopping and had a quick lunch at a mall. Seulgi picked up school equipment for Yeri - and four to-go-salads for all four of them, before they made their way to Yeri’s school to pick her up.

It was a regular school, Joohyun noticed. They weren’t wearing any of the school uniforms of schools Joohyun had beaten in any given competition when she still had been at school.

Seulgi parked at the large lot in front of the school and unbuckled.

“Wait here? I get her.”

Joohyun nodded, silently munching on a single celery stick that Seulgi had said was good for her, because it was green, fresh and dreadful. She watched as Seulgi got out and hurried towards the school building.

There were no large limousines coming and picking children up. There were no butlers and drivers and nannies. There were just parents.

Joohyun watched them attentively, nibbling, a frown between her eyebrows.

Then, after a while, she spotted a group of school children. There were five of them. One was in the middle, four others were surrounding the kid. They walked from the main entrance to the left where a small playground was located.

Irene felt the hairs in her back tingle. She couldn’t exactly say why, but then, the kid in their middle was pushed to the ground and the others started to drag at her backpack.

And then it hit her. Her lips a thin line, she wrestled her way out of the car and hobbled over.

“Weirdo,” Irene heard when she came closer. “Who is your friend, huh? Is she your girlfriend?”

Another kid kicked sand towards Yeri, on the ground, and Yeri, her jaw pushed forward, eyed the girl with thick headed defiance. Irene admired her for that.

“She’s a girl. She’s my friend, go figure,” Yeri said, pushing her chin forward.

Irene straightened herself to her full height of 158 centimetres and approached the group. She had turned on her below zero gaze that froze everyone to a statue who unfortunately got caught in it.

“Let her go,” she said, her tone low and deep, the celery in her fist.

The four kids turned around and eyed her. They stepped back - she knew that her Ice Queen personality and the fact that she looked like a supermodel were usually enough to intimidate people, but one of the kids made the mistake and not be intimidated.

“What do you want, grandma?”

“I strongly advise you to let her be,” Irene said, her icy aura growing. Her gaze was still directed at the kid, but she stepped forward, not caring if they were around her and reached out to help Yeri to her feet.

Yeri was embarrassed, she could tell, and she mumbled something like: “You don’t have to help me,” but Irene had already decided otherwise.

Some of the other kids that went to Yeri’s school or were otherwise attendees, had slowly come closer, wanting to witness the confrontation.

It seemed to encourage bully number one to fight back in order to cling to some shreds of his dignity, but Irene wouldn’t let them.

“Are they mean?”

Yeri shrugged and awkwardly tried to remove sand.

Irene stepped closer to her and gently took her arm to get her attention. “Are they mean to you or other kids?”

Yeri shrugged again, but then she looked up and nodded.

Irene took a deep breath. “I see.” She turned around and the ones that saw her face and were in close enough to see the spark, stepped back. “I’ve seen people like you,” Irene said slowly. “But I usually have to pay admission. So a word of advice before they lock you away. You are the reason we have to write directions on a shampoo bottle.”

(Someone in the back “ooooh”-ed. Irene wasn’t sure if this was a good or a bad thing.)

“If you only breath into Yeri’s direction, I will return and I will crush you under my heel like insects and make it look like an accident.” They gasped. “I’ll skin you alive with a cheese grater and rip your arm off and beat you to death with it. ” They gasped harder. “And also,” and Irene produced what she had stolen from them by passing them. “I will remove the SD Card from your phone and send a best-of to your parents. And your headmaster in CC.”

One of them said, the lip quivering: “You can’t say something like this to us!”

Irene tch-ed. “And why?”

“Because you are an adult and we are kids,” the girl whined.

Irene leaned forward. “You started it,” she seethed. “Face the consequences.” She then made a vague motion with her hands. “Scram.”

“Can I get my phone back?”

“Do you want to keep your arm?”

They fled the scene.

Irene was disappointed. “They lack endurance in conflict.”

Yeri eyed her. “You are metal.”

Irene lifted an eyebrow at the girl. “Am I?”

“Yeah.” Yeri bopped her head up and down. “You are just as metal and crazy as Joy said.”

Joohyun wanted to say something inappropriate about Joy, but then settled with: “Joy knows me quite well.” She handed the phone to Yeri. “Just give it back Monday.”

“We are not going to necessarily violate their privacy?” Yeri asked, quite obviously disappointed.

Irene shook her head. “No. It’s not right and - and your sister won’t like it.”

Yeri inhaled and exhaled. “That’s unfortunately correct.” A beat. “It sucks to be good.”

Irene eyed her for a long moment. Then: “It does.”

They returned to the car, Yeri on the backseat. She took out her phone and sent a message to Seulgi. “Unnie has gotten lost in the building again.”

Irene nodded. “I see.” She didn’t know what to say, so after a while, she finally mentioned: “We bought terrible food today. For - for your pictures.”

Yeri, on the backseat, perked up immediately. “Ohhhh. Unnie didn’t forget. Wait!”

There were noises of rustling and then, from behind over the back of Irene’s seat, a phone was shoved. A picture of Seulgi was on it and Joohyun carefully took the phone from Yeri’s hand.

It showed Seulgi, eating something green and indescribable, her face a mask of disgust.

“Swipe!” Yeri said.

Irene did as she was told. More pictures, each broadcasting the expressiveness of Yeri’s sister, with weirder and stranger food. Irene spotted tentacles once and something that seemed like a strange kind of insect but she couldn’t quite say was - and once that looked like a delicious, yummy cookie.

“Aren’t they amazing?” Yeri asked, somewhat breathlessly. Her face was smashed between the door and the headrest of Irene’s seat, as she eyed the images over Irene’s shoulder.

“Why do you do that? I mean, why do you torture her like this?”

“It’s not torture.”

“What is it then?”

Yeri let her fingertips slide over the surface, her expression suddenly fond as she regarded her older sister. “She hates the food, but she loves me so much that she does it anyway. Even more so after mom and dad … y’know.” She shrugged then showed Joohyun a particularly bad one of Seulgi, one second away from retching. “This is what love looks like.”

Joohyun eyed it.

Seulgi was pretty in each and every one of them, but not even Yeri could deny that they were purposely unfortunate pictures.

“You could do something else, you know?” Joohyun said carefully. “Like, I don’t know, make her give you flowers.”

“Flowers wilt. These are for eternity.”

Joohyun eyed her. “You are a very scary kid.”

Yeri shrugged. “I know. But I’ve met Joy, so I think you are used to us.” She lifted her phone. “Would you eat something for me?”

“No.”

“It will look very yummy.”

“I tried the avocado stuff. I refuse.”

“Your loss.”

Seulgi returned moments later, out of breath and flushed. “I met your headmaster and a couple of very scared kids.”

(Irene and Yeri exchanged a glance Seulgi was not aware of.)

Seulgi buckled herself in. “We should drive home. You gotta see the avocado stripes we bought, Yeri.” When Yeri didn’t answer, Seulgi turned and looked over her shoulder. “You okay?”

Yeri eyed her and then quickly and uncomfortably hugged her around the driver’s seat. “I’m well,” Yeri mumbled into Seulgi’s hair.

Seulgi was not convinced. “You sure?”

Yeri nodded and then fell back into her seat.

Joohyun watched her, the slight worry, the joy that she finally got to pick her up, the hesitation, the faint smile she gifted Joohyun and the final smile she shot Yeri before they finally left the parking lot. Joohyun turned back to catch Yeri’s eyes.

The girl had taken out her Switch Light and played Pokémon, probably, but when she noticed Joohyun’s eyes, she looked up for a moment.

Joohyun wasn’t sure but she thought she had been able to smile, because Yeri smiled back and then looked back at her entertainment system.

They drove home - and Joohyun thought that maybe Joy had looked at them the first time she had seen them, at both Seulgi and Yeri, and also at her, Joohyun, and had seen something precious that Joohyun had been blind for.

*

Later on after dinner and a movie and Seulgi taking Yeri to bed, Joohyun found herself on Seulgi’s small balcony, surveying the city. The cup of tea in her hands felt comforting and warm - she had never much cared for coffee and never had had time for tea.

The door behind her slid open and closed again and Joy leaned against the handrail next to her.

“What are we doing?” Irene asked her without even looking at her.

“What do you mean?”

“Impeding on the life of those two,” Joohyun said.

“I don’t think they see it that way,” Joy said after a moment.

“This can’t go on like this.”

“Why?”

“How? With our jobs and with who I am and -”

“You like them, don’t you?” Joy said, her anger sudden and painful, like stepping into a sharp piece of plastic.

“Joy -”

“You like them, don’t you?”

“She’s too young for you, Joy,” Irene said, her voice cool. “And Seulgi - Doctor Kang …”

Joy threw her hands and paced once the rather tiny length of the balcony. “You truly are an idiot, unnie,” she said. “I know that Yeri, no matter what’s going on, is too young. But she won’t be seventeen forever, and I’m responsible and we are only three years apart. But Doc Kang is neither too young nor is she a teenager and she clearly likes you. And you like her back.”

“Joy -”

“I can jump down this balcony and barely have a scratch, unnie, but you -,” she poked her once, twice. “You are soft and tiny and weak in comparison to me. I can’t compete with your brain, but I can compete with your body. Why can’t you be reasonable ?”

“Someone has to protect the city and -”

“Someone is protecting the city! Jeong is out there. I am. Just help us by thinking some of your clever thoughts and lean back. In a world full of supers fighting supers, why would you, a human-shaked sack filled with water and some squishy parts try to fight a guy with laser eyes? It doesn’t make any sense!”

Irene’s gaze had turned deadly. So deadly that when she finally directed it at Joy, the girl stepped back. “Unnie, I’m sorry, I -”

“First of all,” Irene said. “I am a muscly , conventionally super beautiful human-shaped sack filled with water and soft pieces. I am the original visual after all!”

Joy rolled her eyes. “Alright, alright.”

Irene squeezed the bridge of her nose. “I feel like I’m leaving something behind, Joy. I feel like if I do it myself, nobody can do it.”

“It’ll kill you if you continue doing it,” Joy said.

“I know. I know.”

Joy nudged her, her equivalent of a hug between sisters. Then she turned around and left. She heard Joy’s voice though coming from somewhere inside the apartment before the door to the balcony was closed:

“She’s all yours.”

“ Heu, heu, heu. ”

Seulgi joined her and for a moment, Joohyun wondered if Joy had done the warming up for her and Seulgi was … Seulgi was …

What was Seulgi?

“Unnie,” Seulgi said and her voice had turned worried. She had brought a blanket and put it over the smaller woman’s shoulder. “It’s cool out here and you are still sick.”

Irene huffed. “Shouldn’t you be afraid that Joy’s alone with your sister?” The moment after she had said it, Irene regretted it, because it was mean and not entirely fair towards Joy. She was a good person, always, and it seemed like her amount of difficult relationships was solely limited to the one she had with her sister.

“No. I had a clear conversation with Joy and we agreed on every point.” A pause. “I also may have threatened to break every bone in her body should she try something untoward.”

Irene blinked once slowly as she was flooded with an avalanche of memories of Joy fighting an enormous dinosaur trying to destroy Seoul; of Joy breaking a giant robot’s arm with one hand; of Joy single-handedly bringing down an alien spaceship. “What did she say?”

“She agreed and promised me to behave,” Seulgi said and shrugged. “I believe her. Plus Yeri has … quite a strong personality.” Then Seulgi smiled and Joohyun - Joohyun felt how her heart skipped a beat.

She quickly steeled herself and looked back towards the city.

“Joy can be quite difficult,” she finally said slowly.

Seulgi smiled, leaning her back against the handrail of the balcony. Joohyun eyed her for a moment, then looked back at the city.

From a completely neutral point of view, she was extremely attractive. And seemed quite sporty. And she was educated and clever. And kind. She did a good job raising her little sister - and she was a good doctor. And … and she cared.

So … she … would make for a good partner. For - for … for stuff.

For, like, things.

Irene tried to stop her mind, but it just took her and dragged her on a wild journey. Of Seulgi, mostly.

She saw Seulgi smiling at her, the bright sun behind her, a large hat, like a halo on her head, wearing a bikini. Sand underneath their feet, the ocean somewhere close. Joohyun hated the water, but for her she would go. She saw Seulgi from behind, shrugging off a shirt before getting ready for bed, her hair a ponytail. There was a bite mark on Seulgi’s shoulder. She saw Seulgi next to Joy, laughing, and her eyes returned to Joohyun and turned into small crinkles as she laughed: “Heu, heu, heu.”

The many ideas about Seulgi vanished and Joohyun straightened herself and rolled her jaw. She regarded Seulgi’s profile.

Her reason kicked in. And she knew what do to, because this was right and reasonable.

Seulgi’s smile was the adorable version of a question mark when she heard what Joohyun had said next, after Seulgi had pulled her into the warm apartment once more.

“I don’t understand.”

“You don’t have to.”

Joohyun motioned. “This is a perfectly good bed.” She motioned again. “And the couch is narrow, uncomfortable and you don’t even have a good blanket.”

“We can buy one tomorrow.”

“Sleep in the bed.”

“I could kick you by accident or elbow you or punch you or -”

“ Sleep in the bed. ”

“You are injured!”

“Seulgi. God. Why are you being so difficult?” With a huff, she half limped over to the bed and pulled out some pillows and put them in the middle between the two of them and placed them as a small wall between the two sides. “There. Happy?”

Seulgi eyed the soft, fluffy, easily squeezable wall with some doubt, then looked at Irene. Irene regarded her with the sternest expression she could muster. She knew this expression had worked with Joy - when Joy had been six years old - and something told her it would work with Seulgi too.

She was not disappointed. Seulgi folded. “Alright, unnie.”

With some hesitation, she made her way into the bed, clinging to a tinier pillow like it was a life line in the face of a huge, approaching iceberg. Joohyun bit back a smile as she slid under the covers. She turned to her side and noticed Seulgi, laying on her back, stiff like a plank and about to panic, stare at the ceiling.

“I don’t snore, bite or move a lot,” Joohyun said after a moment.

“Which is good to know!” Seulgi said a bit too loud, still looking at the ceiling.

“Are you embarrassed?”

“No!”

“Scared?”

“No!”

“Shy?”

Seulgi didn’t answer, but her ears turned red. “Unnie …” It wasn’t quite a whine, but close. “I … I … haven’t … shared a bed with … any … anyone in … in … since college! And you are very …”

Joohyun smiled. “I’m very what?” she asked, deliberately letting her voice sound a bit deeper and slower than usual.

Seulgi’s ears almost glowed. “ … nice,” she croaked.

And this time, Joohyun couldn’t help herself and she laughed. “Seulgi …”

“Yah.” The girl to her left grumbled. She turned a bit to Joohyun and whacked her with the small pillow. “Don’t laugh at me!”

“I don’t,” Joohyun said and eyed the other woman.

Seulgi was so nice, so friendly, so … so noble, in a way. A bit of her reminded her of the blonde flying girl she had a continuous feud with about how to save the world the best. The flying girl had a sort of melancholy about her that Seulgi hadn’t, but they were both of similar character: the noble idiot kind.

“Look. I’m not trying anything and I’m not … not flirting with you,” Joohyun said.

Seulgi’s head whipped over to her so quickly, Joohyun could almost hear a crack of her bones. “You are not?”

It sounded even more panicked and also … disappointed?

Joohyun eyed her, a long glance, trying not to gnaw on her lower lip. She tried to read the good doctor, but the girl was such a conundrum made of conflicting emotions like shyness and friendliness and a hesitant kind of affection and care. Joohyun had no idea if a sort of interest, romantic or otherwise, was buried in there somewhere that went beyond the care a doctor had for a particularly difficult patient.

But Joohyun was intent on finding out.

“Would - would you want me to flirt with you?” Joohyun asked, eying her seriously and curiously.

Seulgi emitted a kind of nervous laughter and quickly looked away. “Would you even want to flirt with me, unnie?” Seulgi asked, a strange kind of wide smile frozen on her face, as she looked at the ceiling.

Joohyun eyed her. Even with slightly messy hair and in her pajamas, she found her adorable. “I think everyone would be elated to be allowed to flirt with you,” she said, her voice calm. She watched with some fascination as Seulgi tried hard not to implode.

She finally, and with a start, turned to her side, her back to Joohyun. It took her two seconds, then: “I’d be elated to flirt back with you as well, unnie,” she squeaked and then her hand shot out to the light switch by the bed and she turned it off.

In the darkness, Joohyun laughed, a low and amused sound. “Aigoo, aigoo. Good night, Seulgi.”

“Good night, unnie,” Seulgi managed, and it was the last thing they said to each other that night.

At around four o’clock in the night, there was the sound of screeching tires. Seulgi slept next to her, softly snoring, when Joohyun was woken up by it. She dragged herself out of the bed and stepped to the window.

Outside, there was a group of people. They had rammed a traffic light which had totalled their car. Simple masks covered their faces, and Joohyun could see guns and black suitcases.

Joy should have been there by now. But there was nothing. Probably busy night?

Joohyun watched them leave, hurry down the street into the night. She looked back at Doctor Kang, sleeping and then down at the street again.

She made a decision …

… that was stupid.

*

Why was it that when she was wearing a costume and beat up bad guys, police officers liked having her around, but when she was wearing tight jogging pants and a running shirt, they locked her up and didn’t appreciate her help at all.

She sat behind bars and watched one of the robbers point at her, reduced to tears, holding an ice pack to his face, pointing at her with a shaky index finger.

Joohyun met his eyes, huffed and rolled her own. He started crying harder as he told the police officer in front of him what had happened.

Joohyun had already informed them what had happened:

That she had gone out for a post-midnight snack, recognized them as the robbers from TV from one week ago and had stopped them. She clutched her side, as the group of big, heavy men was shepherded past her cell. They tried to keep their distance as if she was a particularly gross insect.

She tried hard not to be offended.

Her side bled heavily.

Then, her attention was caught by something else. Someone else.

“Hi!”

The voice was happy and chipper and friendly and made Joohyun cringe. She sat back on her bench in the cell and wrestled down the urge to pinch the bridge of her nose. “Hello.”

A woman stood outside her cell. She wore an anthracite suit, white shirt and had shoulder length, blonde hair. Her face was open and friendly and sweet. She was everything Joohyun wasn’t.

“I got a phone call by Joy,” the woman said, as a police officer opened the cell for her. “I have never experienced her being this mad. I think she was ready to kill someone. No, let me rephrase this. She was ready to kill you .”

Joohyun huffed and rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest.

The woman took a seat opposite of her, produced a tablet, typed something on it and then started to scroll. “So. You went out to get a drink.”

“Cola,” Irene said. “I said I got Coca Cola to that police officer. God. Does the incompetence already start there?”

The woman was not deterred. “Coca Cola,” she typed in. “Then you happened to stumble over a group of dangerous criminals, who have had an accident with a car two streets away, totalling their car while driving under influence.”

“Yes.”

“And they are wanted for assault, drug dealing and …” She scrolled down. “More assault, even more assault … and, ah yes, one instance of money laundering.”

“And you recognized them and then tried to call the police,” the woman said.

Joohyun nodded again.

“And then you tried to stop them.”

Again, Joohyun nodded. “Yes. And I did.”

“Oh! Oh, I know!” the woman said a bit too happily. “Devided amongst the four of them, they share twenty four broken ribs, four broken noses, three bruised eyes and one of them was …” She narrowed her eyes to identify what was written there better. “Stuck into a trash bin, while the other was found hanging upside down from a fire exit. Number three was just unconcious.” She looked up at Joohyun. “Want to tell me what happened to number four?”

“No.”

“Unnie. It took them one hour to get him off that street lamp he had climbed on and only, because the fire fighters came to get him down,” the woman said. “What did you do to him?”

“Maybe he watched what I did to the others?” She eyed the woman. “Wendy. They also started it!”

The woman let the tablet sink down on their lap. “I’ve seen the CCTV. It is true they started it and you acted in self defense, but unnie. There’s a difference between acting in self defense and scaring them for life!”

“Then I guess it was just bad luck that they attacked someone that could actually defend herself,” Joohyun said.

“You are bleeding,” Wendy stated, pointing at Joohyun’s side.

“I know. I was just - one graced me and once, I moved too quickly and I still have stitches.” She made a motion, wiping the topic away. “Where’s Joy and Seulgi? I need to go home.”

Wendy took a deep breath. “They won’t come.”

Joohyun looked up. “What do you mean by that?”

“Joy is … she is … beyond mad. When she heard you did that … Doc Kang wanted to see you but Joy wouldn’t let her. She said you were the most stupid, insufferable, irresponsible person ever who did not care the slightest about her loved ones.” Wendy paused. “She also said some more things, but I can’t repeat them and Seulgi already made her pay enough money into the swear jar to cover Yeri’s college tuition. Well. Almost. Unnie.”

“What was I supposed to do?” Joohyun asked, her voice sharp like a knife. “Not catch them?”

“You almost died last time. You are injured and are now bleeding. While Joy is - special. She … nothing will happen to her.”

“Nothing happened to me either,” Joohyun snapped.

“Because they were incompetent and you were lucky!” Joy stepped into view, her frame shaking with rage. “You could have been hurt! You could have died!”

“But I haven’t!” Joohyun said, the ice creeping into her voice, as she stood to face Joy.

“Yeah, this time. You already got gutted once, unnie. Do you want to continue this until I’m coming to get you and only find you laying in some alley?” she asked.

“This won’t happen,” Joohyun tried, but Joy wouldn’t have any of it.

“You are already bleeding! Unnie! You got stabbed, had your ribs broken, got punched, wrestled down, fell down a building, parachuted from the Empire State Building and got thrown off a train -”

“The train was not that bad,” Joohyun said, her voice somewhat smaller. She hated herself for it.

“- in Siberia!” Joy stepped closer, suddenly tall and dark and dangerous in the worst kind of way. “Do you want to die? Huh? Unnie? It seems like you want to die. I’ll do it myself, so I don’t have to ask myself where on the goddamn planet you got lost and won’t come back.”

“Joy -”

“ Just like mom and dad! ”

Joohyun eyed her. The rage on the younger girl’s face was palpable. Her jaw shook and unshed tears had gathered in her eyes. “Sooyoung.” She tried to reach out, but Sooyoung pushed her hand away.

With a frustrated sound, she stomped away, kicking one of the bars on her way out. It was v-shaped afterwards.

Wendy was left behind. She took a deep breath. “Unnie.”

“Do you also think that?” Joohyun asked.

“That you’d end up dead?” Wendy asked. Her voice was light and belied its heaviness.

Joohyun still stared at where Joy had disappeared. “Yes.”

Wendy took another deep breath. “You are just - human . I’d leave the dangerous things to the supers.”

“Father and mother died because nobody was there to stop them,” Joohyun said.

“I know.”

“I wanted to do it myself. Stop people.”

“I know.”

She turned to face Wendy. Was she crying? Joohyun couldn’t tell, but Wendy handed her a tissue nonetheless. “I hate it that I may be too weak to do it,” Joohyun finally said.

“I know,” Wendy finally said. She stepped closer. “Look. Joy may be angry like this, but she’s angry because she cares. I care. Yeri cares. Your Doctor Kang cares.”

“She’s not my Doctor Kang,” Joohyun said, very calm.

“Oh, please. I’ve seen the way she worries for you.”

“She is. Not. My Doctor Kang,” Joohyun said, her voice like an icicle.

Wendy was clever enough to drop the subject. “Be that as it may, they are here to pick you up. They only know the official story, so you are, no matter what Joy thinks, a hero to them. A stupid hero, but a hero nonetheless. Just so you know what you’ll face when you leave. As your lawyer, I’ll take care of the paper work.”

“Wendy.”

“Hm?”

“Thank you,” Joohyun said after a long moment.

Wendy’s smile was kind and bright. “Thank me by being responsible. You are all Joy has left and even though she hates you, she loves you so, so much.”

Joohyun’s lips were a thin line. “I know.”

She got up and stepped out into the front of the police station. It was filled with police officers behind desks, people complaining, grumbling and hollering and with Seulgi and Yerim in the back. Joy was even further in the back, pacing. When she saw Wendy and Joohyun, she shot Joohyun a glance that could have killed a lesser person.

The expressions on Seulgi’s and Yeri’s faces spoke of relief when they saw her. The tiny girl latched onto Joohyun the moment she was in reach. “Unnie! Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” Joohyun grumbled.

Yeri stood back, holding her at arm’s length to look up at her. “Did you really fight four men?”

“I -” She felt Joy’s gaze impaling her. “They were really incompetent at … fighting … back.”

Yeri’s eyes went wide nonetheless. “Woahhhhh.”

Joy huffed somewhere in the back.

Then Joohyun’s eyes met Seulgi’s and for a moment, she caught an unguarded expression on Seulgi’s face: Thoughtful, worried and something else. Some kind of recognition? Or affirmation?

Of what?

Joohyun couldn’t be sure.

Her expression changed to a neutral one and a small smile. “Unnie. How are you feeling?”

“Better than those guys,” she said.

Seulgi’s smile widened for a moment.

When they went to catch a cab, Joy went first, Yeri close to her. Seulgi and Irene followed in a distance.

Irene looked at the younger woman and mulled words in her head. What to say. How to say it. Then, because it was the only thing she was good at, she touched Seulgi’s arm. The woman looked at her immediately.

“Seulgi?”

“Hm?”

“I have to take care of something,” she said. She hesitated. “It’s important. If I don’t, I might lose Joy - Sooyoung - over it.”

Seulgi just looked at her. She was so pretty. So kind. So adorable. She was so …

Joohyun closed her eyes for a moment. Just say it. Just say it.

“I might lose you over it. And Yeri too,” Joohyun added.

Seulgi stopped walking and looked at her. Her smile was small, but brilliant. “Oh?”

“Yes.” Joohyun’s face was blank, but her ears were red. “I - yes. It might take me … a week or so. To take care of it. Will you wait for me?”

Seulgi’s smile was still small but brilliant. A bit inquisitive. “And then?”

“Then … maybe. Maybe we could go somewhere?”

The confusion, hesitation, was palpable. “Somewhere? Unnie?”

Trust Seulgi to need stuff be spelled out for her. Joohyun took a deep breath. “Like catch a movie? Or go to a café?”

This time Seulgi’s smile grew and grew. “I would love that very much.”

And that was that.

 

end part 2.

Notes:

We are gearing up for the fluff, right? I tried to make them jump each other in this, but Seulgi was all "No, I'm too shyyyy." and Irene thinks nobody likes her. Sometimes I wish characters would do what *I* want them to do.
Thanks to Caewyn Stradfort and maskbehinda for their input.
One left to go!

Chapter 3: Three.

Three.

One week.

One week to do the unthinkable. To do something Irene had never done in her life before, because … Irene wasn’t weak. She wasn’t incompetent. She wasn’t helpless.

She was something else, she realized, as she watched Joy taking a leap from one end of their gym to the other, devoid of all gravity and other laws of time and space and dunked the basketball, not even breaking a sweat.

She watched as Joy pulled out her pink cellphone, laughed at whatever the screen showed her, texted something back, only to pocket it again and do another slam dunk.

She did something Irene found highly disconcerting.

She jumped and then noticed Irene’s eyes on her, stopped midair, mid jump, the ball on the palm of her hand and looked at her. “You okay?” she asked, lifting an eyebrow.

“I’m …” Irene caught herself, almost saying fine. But instead she said: “Almost.”

It was enough for Joy to discard her jump and just land to stalk over. “What did you say?”

Irene eyed her younger sister, all long limbs and invincibility and took a deep breath. She smoothed down her shirt and then her pants and then said: “I’m going to say this once, don’t get used to it, don’t brag to others, to Yeri about it, got it?”

Joy eyed her like aliens had snatched her body and were about to declare world domination. “Okay?”

“I … I …” She swallowed. “I need help.”

Joy blinked. Once, twice. “You … need help.”

“Yes.”

“Did you bump your head?” Joy asked, even more suspicious. “You never need help.”

“I know.”

“Like that one time when you were hijacked somewhere on the pacific ocean in a plane with a bomb on board and thirty-three chickens …”

“I know . Joy,” Irene said somewhat sharper.

“Or that one time when like that professor of chemistry transformed into that big green thing,” Joy continued.

“I know.”

“Or that one time …”

“ Joy !” Irene said sharply and Joy closed her mouth with a sound. “Yes. I need help.”

“Okay. Okay.” She took the seat next to her. “What kind of help?”

Irene knew that this was the worst day of her life. “The bad kind of help. The kind of help I really, really try to avoid.”

Joy paused again, eying her like she wore clothing from her least favorite designer, Dior. “Like, seriously, is this an episode of Bodysnatchers from Outer Space ? You want to ask the flying girl for help? Unnie -”

“Joy,” Irene said. It broke her heart to say what she was going to say, but her body ached from past injuries, from bullets, from things she could have avoided, but didn’t, because she so desperately wanted to fix things and really … couldn’t. “I have realized … I am not … you. ”

Joy stared at her, really looked at her, then slowly floated down.

God. She was so tall. She had seen people sob at Joy when she had descended from above and pulled them out of the rubble. For some reason, Irene understood why this was the case.

Irene went in for the kill. “Sooyoung,” she said. She saw how Joy flinched, as if someone had shot her. “I need help.”

“Is this a Doctor Kang thing?” Sooyoung asked.

Irene wiped her forehead with her hand, shrugged, squirmed, and shrugged again helplessly. “I don’t know. Maybe? No idea. Maybe not. I - make a suggestion about this that I’m going to hate.”

Joy thought about it for a long moment. “Okay. Okay.” She hesitated, then: “I have good news for you and bad news. What do you want to hear first?”

“Bad news.” She said it quickly, because bad news should always come first.

“Okaaaay,” Joy said, drawing out the word. “I can help you. Or - rather. Someone can help you. But it will involve you spending time with people that will like you a lot and you will probably loathe them.”

“This is, indeed, unfortunate news,” Irene said. She pondered on it. “What’s the good news?”

Joy smirked. “Eventually, you will like them back.”

“How is this supposed to be good news?”

“Unnie,” Joy said, leaned forward, and placed a hand on Irene’s thigh. “You need people around you. It’s good for you and your … your sharp edges.”

“What sharp edges?”

“And for your difficult personality.”

“What difficult personality?”

“And your tendency to feel superior to everyone,” Joy concluded.

“I am superior to everyone!” Irene huffed.

“The snowman from Frozen is taller than you and peanuts can kill you,” Joy said. “You should spend your time in an armchair, do crossfit and have lots and lots of sex with Doctor Kang.”

“I am your sister !” Irene said, outraged, scandalized and horrified.

“I know,” Joy said, very sweetly. “This is why I’m looking out for you. Tomorrow, we are going to meet some kids.”

“I hate kids.”

“Liar,” Joy deadpanned. “God, unnie. Try to be human. It’s so infuriating.” Then she got up, patted Irene’s shoulder and left.

Irene was left behind, watching how she left. Then she did what she did best: She went to her room and picked out clothing, black and sleek, made for her by many designers. She laid it out on the bed the other day. She felt like she was preparing for battle.

Then she changed into sports clothing and did a short round of running and went to bed early.

The next day when she arrived at breakfast, much to her surprise, Joy was already there. Usually the girl slept way into the late morning, but not this morning. She wore what Irene considered “unacceptable clothing”.

There were scratches in her jeans, her t-shirt was oversized and the jacket was an old baseball college jacket. There was a baseball cap on the kitchen counter.

Irene, on the other hand, wore a black suit by Alexander Wang, the only highlight of color a red pin on her lapel.

“You look very … casual,” Irene commented.

“You look very scary. I told you you were going to meet kids and this is what you are going to wear?” Joy said, a crooked eyebrow, her eyes peeking over the rim of the coffee cup. “I’ve ordered the driver to pick us up at seven. Do you think you can manage?”

“I can manage,” Irene said.

She finished her coffee (black with soy-milk and the faintest dash of sugar), then she and Joy were picked up by the driver.

The car crossed the city into the outskirts. Irene knew the area only vaguely, but remembered supporting several neighborhood projects way back, but otherwise the area was foreign to her. Smaller houses with yards, quaint, but she could see that some bordered on poverty. Broken roofs and unruly gardens.

The car stopped in front of a large, black metal gate. It was broken and covered with ivy all over, ajar. Grass grew thigh-high behind it and led into a large garden area that hadn’t seen a landscaper in what seemed like ages.

There was a sign by the gate, but Irene couldn’t read it; moss and rust had covered it.

“What is this place?” Irene asked.

“A place for a magical childhood?” Joy suggested, then she got out.

Irene followed her out and the car drove off to find a place to park. Joy opened the gate a bit further and the rusty hinges gave a sound that was barely of this world.

Someone needs to fix a lot of things here, Irene thought, as she followed Joy down a well-traveled path through the grass, she looked around.

It was the garden of what seemed to have been a mansion in olden times. But the place had fallen into despair and she wondered who took care of it now. Whoever lived here - they had children. She noticed at least one tree house and a couple of soccer balls and someone had trapped an old bike to a tree.

Generally, there were many trees: Apples trees and one with cherries and another with plums. The place seemed a bit like an orchard.

A house came into sight - made from red bricks and a creaky formerly white now rusted bird made from metal crowned its roof. Several rows of stairs lead up to a large, green double door. A girl in a white dress stood there and looked down at Joy and Irene approaching the house.

She had blonde hair and looked like a doll.

When she noticed them come closer, she turned on her heel and ran inside.

An eerie quietness hung in the air.

Joy looked around and then said: “I know she looks scary, but she’s really nice!”

The silence rose for a moment, almost deafening, then with a start, nature’s voices returned: Birds’ voices and sounds of insects and the wind in the branches of the trees and the grass around them whispering.

Irene looked around and suddenly the face of a kid peeked from behind the tree trunk of a cherry tree. Then more children appeared: From behind the trees, peeking out of the grass and out of the door of the house and the windows.

Various amounts of dirt smudged their faces. One of them had painted red, bright stripes with lipstick from a Yves Saint Laurent knock off. The color was well-chosen; the kid indeed looked a bit unsettling.

Joy took a seat on the stairs in front of the house. “We bring donuts,” she announced.

The girl, who looked like a doll, said shyly: “We are not supposed to have more than one sweet a day.”

“You are such a bore, Chaewon,” another voice said.

“Just because I want to eat healthily,” the girl, Chaewon, replied, but she made her way shyly down the stairs.

“Leave her alone, Ryujin,” the girl with the lipstick-made warpaint on her face. She emerged from the grass and Irene could have sworn that her eyes gleamed yellow for a moment.

“Chaewon and Hyeju, sitting in a tree!” Ryujin called out, but two kids immediately tackled her.

They looked like twins at first glance, but when Irene saw them closeup, taking donuts from Joy’s bag, they looked completely different. One wore a t-shirt with a bunny on it, the other wore one with an orange tabby cat.

“ Aeong! ” the tabby cat girl said.

The girl with the bunny elbowed her. “You have to say thank you!”

“ Aeong! ” the tabby girl cat said happily to Irene.

Irene was about to say something admonishing but off Joy’s strict glance, she said, very slowly: “You are welcome.”

Much to her surprise (and delight), the Aeong girl smiled happily and brightly and plopped down next to her on the staircase, no regard for personal space. Her not-really-a-twin sat down next to her.

Aeong had sharp eyes, just like a cat, while her friend’s eyes were softer, rounder. They were both impossibly cute.

Aeong’s friend, the girl with the bunny shirt, regarded Irene for a long critical moment, then said: “Her name is Hyunjin. She likes bunnies.”

Irene, not sure what to do with that information, nodded. “I … see.”

“My name is Heejin,” the bunny girl said. “What’s yours?”

“Ire - Joohyun. My name is Joohyun,” Irene said. “Is this a school?”

“Not quite,” the girl named Ryujin said. There was a considerably larger amount of dirt now on her face. “It’s a school and an orphanage.”

“An … orphanage,” Irene echoed. Her gaze flicked over all the young, innocent faces of different ages. Then she looked at Joy. Joy had Chaewon on her lap. Chaewon had donuts filling all over her face. “I see. Where are your teachers?”

Another girl, next to Ryujin, shrugged. “Miss Vivi is inside,” she said. “Miss Haseul is at the doctors with Yuna and Yeojin.”

“We found out yesterday that Yeojin is allergic to bees,” Heejin said.

The girl with the previously yellow eyes, snorted. “I told her to wear shoes.”

“It’s good that we found out now,” one girl said. Irene had never seen such sharp eyes on a human being. She reminded her of Seulgi. “Stop bullying her, Hyeju.”

“I’m not bullying her, Yeji,” Hyeju said. “She’s just a dumbass at times.”

“Hey, no bad words!” Yeji said.

“Whatcha going to do?”

“Tell on you, duh!” Yeji said.

“Traitor,” Hyeju replied.

Yeji stood. “Come say that to my face!”

“With pleasure!” Hyeju said, scrambling to her feet.

And Irene watched with some surprise, as Yeji disappeared and reappeared in the distance by a cherry tree. Hyeju immediately complained: “Hey! No powers!” Then chased after her, halfway transforming into a mid-sized wolf.

Irene’s eyes flicked around to meet Joy’s. They all have powers! she silently communicated.

Joy just smiled.

Irene’s eyes returned to Heejin and Hyunjin, their faces both covered with the remnants of a donut. They both looked up at Irene with questioning eyes. “Hyunjin can transform into any kind of cat,” she explained. “Like any cat. Even those that are extinct.” She lowered her voice. “Even the cool big ones!”

Irene’s eyes traveled to Hyunjin. The girl smiled and licked her fingers clean, each finger tip producing a plop sound when she removed the finger from her mouth. Her eyes flickered yellow for a moment, the pupils mere slits.

“What are your powers?” Irene asked.

Heejin shrugged. “I can create stuff.”

“What kind of stuff?”

Heejin shrugged again.

“I see.” Irene looked at Joy, but she was busy with Chaewon and Ryujin.

“What’s your power?” Heejin asked Irene.

“She’s super clever,” Joy said from her seat next to her, without looking up.

Heejin narrowed her pretty eyes. “Like - how clever?”

Irene shrugged. “Find out.”

Both her and Hyunjin stared at her, then exchanged a glance and a huge amount of information along with it.

“What are two things you can never eat for breakfast?” Heejin asked.

Irene stared at her. “Lunch and dinner.”

“What was the highest mountain in the world before Mount Everest was discovered?” Heejin asked.

“Mount Everest still. It just wasn’t discovered yet,” Irene said.

Hyunjin looked at her, and then tilted her head. “How do you find out if there’s an elephant in your fridge?”

Irene narrowed her eyes at the strange little girl. “You open the fridge and check.” And like the kids did, she added, dryly, enunciating properly: “Duh.”

Hyunjin looked at her for another long moment, then turned to Joy. “She’s good. ”

Joy, for the first time that day, smiled. She winked at Hyunjin and lowered her voice, as if she was sharing a secret. “I know.”

Hyunjin grinned back, then eyed Irene. “You don’t seem like someone who hates people.”

Irene refrained from glowering at Joy. “I don’t hate people.”

Joy coughed.

“Not all people.”

“What do you do as a job?” Chaewon asked curiously.

“Many things. Difficult things.”

“Do you think we won’t understand?” Hyeju asked, her raspy voice sounding slightly affronted. She had returned from the orchard, Yeji trudging behind her. They looked like they had rolled in the mud.

“No. That’s. No.” Irene took a deep breath. “I … take care of bad people.”

“Like Jeongyeon unnie?” Ryujin asked innocently.

Irene stared at them. The question was like thunder in the distance, breaking through a silence that Irene had not even known was there. A round of large, innocent kids’ eyes looked back at her. They were kids.

They were just kids.

She imagined how Jeongyeon ran around the orchard with super speed, and played catch and seek.

Irene looked at Joy, then back and the children, and thought of Jeongyeon in her blue and red suit, blonde, beloved by anyone - and realized something. It sometimes was the most unfortunate thing to be the most brilliant person on the planet.

She remembered the question.

Slowly she said: “Yes. Like Jeongyeon unnie.”

“Do you have powers besides being really clever?” Yeji asked. Another girl with soft eyes had moved to sit in her lap.

“No,” Irene said.

“Isn’t it then really stupid to go out and fight bad guys?” Yeji asked curiously. “If someone can just punch you?”

Irene tried to keep the icicles out of her voice. “I am very good at it.”

“Getting punched?” Yeji asked, confused.

“Fighting bad guys,” Irene said, deliberately slowly.

“But Joy unnie and Jeongyeon unnie can fly ,” Hyunjin said. “And you can only think really hard.”

Irene, almost to complain, looked at Joy, who was having the time of her life. At her older sister’s glance, she merely lifted her eyebrows. “What?”

“Nothing,” Irene said pointedly.

“Really?” Joy asked innocently.

Irene glowered at her. She was about to say something very sharp, but then someone interrupted them.

“Sooyoungie!”

Joy looked up and smiled brightly.

A young woman with bright pink hair had emerged from the insides of the house. She was pretty enough to be a model. The kids immediately reacted to her, Chaewon scrambling up from Joy’s lap and attaching herself to the woman’s side. Ryujin hugged her other side. The woman smiled happily at them, then eyed Irene curiously.

“Oh. Hello. I didn’t know we had a guest.”

Irene got to her feet as well and bowed. “Hello. My name is Bae Joohyun.”

“Ah. Sooyoungie’s older sister. Welcome!” Vivi nodded over her shoulder. “Would you like a coffee?”

Do you have an Italian coffee machine? Can you do espresso? Is it possible to get lactose-free milk? “I would love to,” Irene finally said.

They followed Vivi inside the house that was old … and mostly broken down. And way too narrow. By Irene’s estimation, many of the kids shared rooms. It was old and broken, but well-loved. The realization did something to her insides.

The kitchen was tiny, given how many people it had to accommodate. A teenager was standing by the coffee machine and already prepared their order. When she turned around, Irene was positive that she had never seen someone smile so brightly.

“I’m Jiwoo! You are Irene!” she declared and bowed. “Nice having you over. No sugar, I take it?”

“Black,” Irene said.

“Alrighty!” Jiwoo took care of the order and smiled when she saw Joy. “Unnie! How are you?”

“I’m well, thanks, Jiwoo.” Joy smiled. “This is my sister, by the way.”

Chuu waved her hand. “Oh, I already know. You guys are kinda broadcasting it. When I’m done with the coffee, I’ll leave, I don’t want to intrude on your privacy.”

“My privacy?”

“Jiwoo is a mindreader,” Joy said.

Irene’s head whipped over at the happy girl. “You - you are?”

“Yeah.” Chuu shrugged. “I am. But don’t worry, I only get stuff that you are really, really thinking right now, pushing it to the forefront.”

“So you can’t read deeper thoughts?”

“I can, but I don’t. Everyone’s entitled to their privacy!” Jiwoo declared. For some reason, she spoke a bit too loudly and everything she said sounded a bit too happy. The world around her seemed so … so … bright . Irene wasn’t sure if she would be able to handle it.

Irene felt all her defenses go up, but it made Jiwoo only smile brighter. “Don’t worry, Irene-sshi.” She sat down a cup of coffee on the table, near Irene. “I’ll be off.”

Irene looked at Vivi, who had observed the situation with some amusement. “You let a mind reader walk around here?”

Vivi blinked. “What should we do? Let her not walk?”

“She can read everyone’s thoughts!”

“I am well aware,” Vivi said. “But we trust her.”

“You trust her?!” Irene said with quite some disbelief. “How can you trust her ?”

Vivi motioned for Irene to sit, taking a seat at the kitchen table herself. “We trust you not to talk to someone who could take our children away, despite most of them being able to blow up cities,” Vivi said. “Because we trust Joy and Joy trusts you. Same thing with Jiwoo. We trust her not to do anything stupid. And once you know her, you’ll see that she is one of the most wonderful people you will ever meet.”

“But -”

“Are you going to send us someone to take the children away? You could, no?” Vivi asked.

Irene kept quiet. Of course she knew people, fought people, who tried to trade supers for their powers. Who caught kids with powers and sold them to God knows who. “I won’t take anyone away.”

Vivi smiled up at her. “Great! So we’ll trust you with that. And you will trust Jiwoo.” She motioned towards the cup. “It’s getting cold.”

Irene looked at Vivi, at her dark eyes, then at Joy who looked at her with the kind of annoyed expression that willed her not to say something inappropriate. Then, slowly, she sat down and took a sip. She tried not to cringe.

It was - really bad, bad coffee.

“Thank you,” Irene said.

Vivi almost laughed at her expression. “You are welcome.”

Later on, back in the car, Irene turned to her sister and eyed her. She usually tried to look calm and not angry around her, tried to hold back a bit, tried to protect Joy’s feelings, but not this time. It came out all at once.

“I have never heard of this orphanage. But you were there and so was Jeongyeon. All these children, they are like an assortment of the most deadly weapons, living all in one place, taken care of by whoever Haseul is and this woman called Vivi, who is so kind, she can’t be human,” Irene said calmly.

Joy didn’t answer. She just tilted her head and chose to be infuriating.

Irene leaned in and continued. “I have never heard of this place,” she emphasized. “You protected them from me. Because you thought I could do things to them - would do things to them, because I’d consider them to be dangerous.”

A beat. Then Joy said: “They are very, very strong and capable. You haven’t even talked to all of them. However, you are also very, very clever, so I did not want to risk matching your intelligence against their abilities.”

“What changed? Why … why did you bring me here?”

Joy smiled. “You became human, my dear sister.”

Irene hated the observation more than anything else. She merely sat back, crossed her arms on her and stared ahead.

“Seulgi,” Joy said.

Irene ignored that part. “We would have to renovate the entire mansion. Make rooms for kids. Make class rooms. Hire teachers! It would - it would - Joy! This is …” She wanted to punch something, preferably her sister. Which she probably could and Joy would not even blink. “I hate you so much for this!”

“Really?” Joy didn’t even look at her. “Why?”

Irene pointed angrily at the house behind them and the garden that quickly went out of view. “That house is way too small for so many kids. And the kitchen is too. And by God, this must be the most terrible coffee machine in the history of coffee machines.”

Joy smiled. It was the smile of a predator that had succeeded in catching its prey. It was a smile worthy of a supervillain. “You are thinking about it.”

“I'm not thinking about anything!”

Joy laughed. “Unnie! You are the loudest thinker in the history of thinkers!”

“Did Jiwoo tell you that?” Irene said, suddenly even angrier.

It made Joy laugh louder. “It doesn’t take a mindreader to see. You should see your face!”

Irene rolled her jaw. “They can’t continue living there. And they need someone to protect them.”

Sooyoung nodded, thoroughly happy with herself and with Irene’s anger. “I know.”

There was a long period of silence until they arrived back at the mansion. Irene got out the moment the car stopped. She threatened Joy with her index finger. “I hate you.”

Joy smiled at her and then went over and did something that threw Irene off for the rest of the day: She hugged her. “It’s time you live in the world you try to protect.”

Irene kept rooted to the spot, long after Joy had gone after they had parked at their home. Then she went to the gym and angrily did Yoga, then angrily did pilates and then angrily went for a run.

Then she called Seulgi.

*

Seulgi came down the stairs from the entrance of her hospital. She didn’t wear her doctor’s coat but instead had opted for a suit and a loose tie. Irene hated how much she liked the look.

When Seulgi noticed Irene, her steps slowed down a bit as she took her in. “You look so …” Seulgi started. “So …”

“Weird,” Yeri said by her side immediately.

Seulgi smiled. “No, not weird. I would call it …”

Irene lifted an eyebrow at the doctor. “Yes?”

“Weird,” Yeri said again. “It doesn’t look like you can hide knives in that thing.”

“Funny,” Irene said. “I don’t need knives.”

“Colorful,” Seulgi finally said. “I think I’ve only seen you in black and white these days.”

She wore a light red top and jeans. Casual but yet she knew it looked good on her. Joy had helped to pick it and to avoid another instance of wearing black with black on black.

Irene coughed and elbowed Joy next to her, who laughed, and then phased the laughter into a cough, before reaching out with one hand to Yeri. “Come on, you. Let’s have movie night.” She lifted an eyebrow at her sister, then patted her bottom. “You’ll have fun.”

Irene’s glare incinerated her, but Joy wasn’t impressed at all. Instead, she and Yeri disappeared inside the car and drove off.

“So,” Seulgi said. “What are we going to do? It’s an afternoon, hardly the time for dinner.”

Irene braced herself. “Maybe, by any chance, you want ice cream? There’s a really good vendor for it close by. I mean.” She hesitated. “Google said they are a good ice cream shop. I wouldn’t know, but one comment called them ‘full of ice creamy goodness worthy of the Gods’. I’m sure it’s an exaggeration but …”

“No, I would love to go there!” Seulgi said, a bit too loud.

Irene looked at her. There was a flush on her cheeks and on her own possibly too. They were both fools, she realized, competing for the fool cup. It was absolutely undignified. Irene liked it.

“Then,” Irene motioned. “Let’s go?”

“Are we going by car or by helicopter?” Seulgi asked.

“I … thought we could walk,” Irene said slowly. “You know. Since it’s a warm, breezy evening … with lots of … people out here, since people … are … good.” She tried hard not to stumble over her own words.

Seulgi eyed her, confused and amused. “Alright. Let’s walk. Do you want to take the subway?”

“Let’s just walk.” Irene looked at her, her expression blank. “And … for the future: How about we try cabs first, then buses, and safe subways that have not been disinfected since the 60s last.”

Seulgi laughed. “Then let’s try a cab next time. And be brave about it and not disinfect it.”

Irene mock-gasp, aware that the doctor probably just made fun of her. “I see you like living dangerously.”

Seulgi shrugged as they started to walk. “As do you. How is playing chess going?”

Irene shot her a quick, surprised gaze. “I - it’s a complicated topic.”

“I’m sure it is,” Seulgi said. She eyed Irene for a long moment, pensieve. “Amongst many other things, no?” Her smile was kind, her eyes crescent.

Irene looked at her and wondered how much she knew, how much she assumed, but then just continued walking.

It was a gentle, summer late afternoon with families, lovers and friends strolling outside happily. In the distance, someone played piano, a honey sweet melody and children laughed in the distance. Joohyun looked around and shook her head. Usually, she saw the city by night, from above and from its most terrible side.

The human abyss stared at her, gaping hungrily, eying her like a particularly delicious snack. It surprised her that the world could look like this, its sky blue and hopeful, the people actually looking like people - and not dark shadows in the night, off to nothing good.

Seulgi directed her attention at an ice cream vendor closeby. “Want some?”

Irene stared at her. “I beg your pardon?”

“If you want some,” Seulgi said, her expression enthusiastic. She pointed. “They have chocolate chip ice cream.”

It has mostly sugar in it and probably only cocoa butter, a part of Irene wanted to say immediately. Then she remembered when he had had icecream the last time - or something sugary really.

A memory returned. Her mother leaned down to her and offered her a cone of vanilla.

“Alright,” Irene said and followed the other girl around. A couple passed them, the boy having hooked his arm under the smaller girl’s elbow. She eyed Seulgi who was walking half a step in front of her and she thought that with all her bravery, she never …

Seulgi looked back at her, ever excited. “They even have banana split!”

When Irene tried to reach out for her, to hold her arm, Seulgi had stepped out of her reach, happily approaching the vendor. Irene let her arm drop mechanically and imagined Joy cackling at her.

They bought two big portions and it took Seulgi two licks from her ice cream to have chocolate all over her lips - and happiness along with it. She grinned at Irene and offered her a taste.

Irene shook her head. “It’s fine. I’m not the biggest fan of chocolate.”

Seulgi pointed at her ice with the small plastic spoon they had given her. “But there’s banana too and vanilla. Do you want to try one of those?”

Joohyun eyed her, then almost casually stepped closer (when it wasn’t casual at all). “If I may take this?” she asked, as calmly and quietly as she could manage, and hooked her arm under Seulgi’s.

The other girl stiffened like a robot. “I … ah …”

Irene frowned and was about to step away. “If you don’t want me to …”

“No! No, no. No. It’s … no. It’s fine! It’s fine,” Seulgi said, the grasp around her cone so tight that Irene worried. Her cheeks gained a lovely flush. Irene stepped closer and then lifted her ice cream cone to offer it to Seulgi. “Want to try?”

The girl hesitated, then leaned in and took a lick. For some reason, half of it already covered her lips, but she smiled. “It’s good, unnie!”

It was.

Irene watched her smile and returned the smile as they continued to walk down the road.

*

The restaurant that finally won their patronage was a quaint café that offered small, uncomplicated dishes and a wide range of coffee specialities.

Seulgi had a pumpkin spice latte without sugar, but with additional cream and sprinkles, lactose-free milk and a dash of spices.

Irene had coffee. Black. With ice.

Seulgi stretched out in her comfortable armchair under a fake plastic tree that looked suspiciously convincing. Behind them, a group of grandparents discussed the latest sport events and there were some students in the back, studying with their laptops.

Seulgi had gotten rid of her ice cream beard to make way for a coffee beard. She seemed happy and relaxed - and Irene wondered how often, with her kind of job, and with Yeri atop of it, she got to relax.

“I hear you’ve adopted children,” Seulgi said after a while.

Irene felt her gaze sharpen. “Did Joy tell Yeri and Yeri told you?”

Seulgi smiled. “The chain of communication is very short between the two of them.” She hesitated. “I’m surprised. I didn’t know you liked children.”

“I like Yeri. Sorta. And Joy.”

Seulgi shrugged. “But Joy is your sister. You have to love her, even though you don’t have to like her,” she said. “And Yeri is … well, she is …” She weighted her head from one side to the other. “She’s very …”

“Special?” Irene said.

“Relentless,” Seulgi said. “She … doesn’t exactly take prisoners when interacting with people.”

Irene nodded. “She and Joy are similar. Just that Joy is grumpier than her.”

Seulgi’s expression became somber as she regarded Irene and didn’t say anything.

Irene tried to change the topic. “So yes. I … adopted children. Sorta. It’s … I’m supporting an orphanage, so there’s that.”

“They are special kids, I assume?” Seulgi asked with half a smile.

“Yeah … special kids. They are … yeah.”

“Where will they live?” Seulgi asked.

“Bae Manor,” Irene answered immediately. “I … it’s a big place and terribly empty since mom and dad died and … I figured all the rooms that are now empty could as well be used for something … for someone else. By someone else.”

“Who lived there before, before your parents died?”

“Mom and dad practiced something called ‘open house’. We had a constant stream of artists and musicians and writers and intellectuals visiting us,” Irene said. She put down her coffee cup as if it was something very delicate. “I personally didn’t care so much for so many people, but mom, dad and Joy loved it. Mom and dad would brag that they housed thirteen Pulitzer Prize Winners and six Nobel Prize winners before they won their prizes. Dad supported the arts and sciences a lot. When they died …” Irene shrugged. “I couldn’t take it.”

“The - the absence of your parents?”

“Of - of everything,” Irene said. “Mom and dad, in a way, they were my connection to the world. I’m not the easiest person and they were very patient with me.”

“And Joy?”

“Well. Joy became angry,” Irene said with a weak smile. She took a deep breath. “She knows that I can’t live there with these people. I don’t like them the way she does or mom and dad do. But kids - it’s different.”

“Hm.”

“Hm,” Irene said. She shrugged. “Yes. Kids.”

Seulgi absentmindedly stirred her colorful coffee. She hesitated, then looked up, something unreadable . “Will those kids be playing chess?”

Irene looked at her, sharply. A moment passed between them. Then she said: “If they want to, they can play chess, yes. Or whatever else they wish to do.”

Seulgi looked at her, her face completely unreadable. Like this, Irene almost didn’t recognize her as the person she had met in the office, who had treated her arm. The expression was wistful and … curious? Irene couldn’t be sure.

Seulgi hesitated. “There’s a museum closeby. For photographs. Do you want to check it out? I want to show you something.”

Irene looked at her, surprised. “I … sure? Sure thing.”

Seulgi’s expression was still blank, as she went up and paid wordlessly, before Irene could do anything about it.

When they left the café, it was Seulgi who took Irene’s arm with quite some conviction and steered them down the streets, knowing exactly where they went. There was an expression of solid determination on her face, different from anything Irene had seen before on her.

“Is something wrong?” Irene asked.

Seulgi shook her head, vehemently. “No. No, it’s just.” A fleeting, short smile, a l then. “You’ll see.”

The Museum for Photography was a modern, cubic kind of building with large flyers attached to it that advertised the current collection. Irene recognized the name - Vivian Maier - but it didn’t seem that they were there for her.

There was a permanent exhibition there as well and Irene assumed Seulgi wanted to show her that one. When they entered and offered up their jackets at the entrance, the elderly lady at the counter smiled happily at them.

“Miss Kang, it’s good to see you again. And no Yeri today?” she asked.

Seulgi smiled back. “Yeri is with a friend. This is … Irene. Bae. Irene Bae.”

The lady smiled brightly. “Ah. Irene Bae. Of course. Also a friend?”

Seulgi coughed. “Something - something like it,” she said and the woman smiled.

“Have fun, you two.” She gave them their tickets and small coins for their jackets and Irene and Seulgi were left to their devices.

 This place was so big, so light, that each picture gleamed on the white wall at any prospective audience. It was truly built to emphasize whatever was put on the walls.

“Have you ever been here?” Seulgi asked, as she led them down a long, spacious corridor.

Irene shook her head. She followed Seulgi quickly and the girl looked back at her and offered her an arm. Irene took it, way more happily than she would admit to herself. “No. But I know this place. I think my father sponsored it.”

Seulgi looked at her, her smile bright. “He did. Come on.”

They walked slowly, as did the few other visitors that came today. The place inspired reverence and solace. Irene liked it.

It was such an airy, bright place that one could feel the mind and soul expand and reach every corner and nook. Despite its vastness, it emitted a benevolence towards visitors, inviting them in, wanting them here, with the couches and benches and armchairs everywhere.

Sun filtered through high windows in the roofs - and the guards and attendants of the museum wandered the hallways in quiet and respectful distance.

Seulgi led them to the vast underground floor, where sunlight colored lights made up for the real thing. The permanent exhibition was housed there - and in a smaller room by the far end, a presentation of black and white photographs was displayed.

Seulgi’s hand grasped for her arm as they approached the small isolated area, past the large format, enormous pictures that covered entire walls to small, framed photographs, no larger than a mid size TV screen. They were by a male photographer - his picture hung by the entrance on the wall. It was small and she could see him smile.

Before Irene could catch the name, something else caught her attention.

There was a picture on the wall of a girl, black and white, playing in a puddle, her face painted with a smile, as droplets flew everywhere.

It was taken from a very low perspective, so the photographer must have crouched through the mud to take a picture of the girl who was no older than five years. It was the very image of happiness.

Irene stared at the girl - and her open face, her crescent eyes, her chubby cheeks. She looked around and noticed more. Another girl, younger, peeking over the shoulder of her mother, right at the camera as the mother walked away from the camera. Half her face hiding, her hair a mess, her expression one of petulance that Irene had seen so often.

“I like this one the best,” Seulgi said and pointed.

Irene turned around. She froze when she saw it - and tried hard not to swallow heavily or cry. It was such an unexpected happiness and also a memory that was fragile and feathery, close to her heart, but long forgotten.

The photograph was very … long. An unusual format, Irene found. Black and white, it was. On the far left was a car with an open door. Four people emerged from, in a line, with some distance between them, like the Beatles on Abbey Road.

Irene’s father, tall and handsome, first, then little Irene, marching after him, her hands fists by her sides, swinging by her sides, like a soldier. Little Joy after her, slouching, leaned over her cellphone or MP3-Player, enormous headphones on her small head, and Irene’s mother last, barely having left the car.

Irene stepped closer and she touched Joy, the only one alive. This picture had been taken shortly before she had shown her powers, while Irene had already beaten people thrice her age at chess.

Then she turned and looked around. Many pictures were of other people. People in the city, reflected by windows; a child chasing doves; a dog caught mid-jump, the cute face a grotesque and funny mask as he tried to catch a treat.

The pictures caught … personality, she found, and just as Irene was surrounded by her family, she was also surrounded by Seulgi’s.

Quickly, she wiped away a tear. It was - unexpected.

“Your father -,” Irene turned to face Seulgi, while pointing at the picture. “Your father! Was he - was he in our house, when mom and dad ...”

“I can only assume so,” Seulgi said.

The doctor frowned and bit her lip, holding something back. For a moment, Irene could not place Seulgi’s emotions at all, but then she realized that she was overwhelmed.

“It was before I was born, but I think my parents knew your parents. But … look.” She pointed at a picture at the far wall. It was of Irene, amidst all her classmates, right before her High School graduation. She was already serious in that picture, strict and with clear ideas how the world should be. With a fractured relationship with Joy. Her parents had long died until then.

“He took it around two weeks before he and mom … before they died.” Seulgi’s voice sounded forlorn. “It was a car accident.”

A car accident.

Irene turned around to Seulgi, who still hovered at the entrance of the room, while Irene was surrounded by what Irene could only assume was her entire past. She stared at her.

“When you came to my office, and when I met Joy,” Seulgi started hesitantly. “I - I immediately recognized you.”

Irene stepped closer. “Recognized me,” she echoed.

Seulgi started speaking, each word a sharp needle in Irene’s heart.

“I remember looking at the roof of the car, unable to move,” Seulgi said. “I was bleeding and I had already lost a lot. Then Joy rolled up the car like it was a sardine box and pulled Yeri out.”

Joy … opened their car. Joy was there when Seulgi’s parents had the car accident. Joy …

Irene blinked hard. If Joy was there, then …

Seulgi shrugged, unsure, but continued. Her face was so tense, ready to break. “You were wearing that mask of yours, but I could see your eyes, almost as panicked as I was. I … I recognized you immediately when you came into my office.”

Irene took in a sharp breath. “Seulgi …”

“You saved my life,” Seulgi said. She made a sharp movement with her arm, then just stood. Tears started to stream down her cheeks.

“No, no, no,” Irene said. She stepped closer and rummaged in her pocket to get a tissue, and then started to dab Seulgi’s cheek. It gave her something to do, someone to save, because if she thought too hard this moment, she would cry herself. “I -”

“I - I’m sorry I -,” Irene said, her voice broken.

But Seulgi, almost violently, shook her head. “No, no. Don’t say that. Joy saved Yeri and you saved me. I - just imagine if Joy hadn’t saved my sister. Just imagine, she would have -” The last word was drowned by a sob and this time, Irene hugged her.

Seulgi cried like a child, with sobs wracking through her body, her face pressed against Irene’s shoulder. Her grasp was so tight that Irene almost felt her bones crack.

She managed to drag the girl over to the small bench in the middle of the room and sat her down. They remained there, arms around each other, tightly, desperately. It was a strange feeling - the doctor knew who she was, what she was doing, and what Joy was doing, what they did when Irene said they were playing chess.

Seulgi knew everything.

“Why didn’t you say something …” Irene mumbled against Seulgi’s shoulder.

Seulgi sobbed, then leaned back so Irene could see her face. The doctor rubbed her eyes, the tears away like a child. When Irene handed her a tissue, she took it wordessly.

“I didn’t know … it was so important for you that nobody knew and Joy was mad at everyone and the world …”

Irene huffed. “Joy’s mostly mad at me.”

“I know that now ,” Seulgi said. Then she looked up and laughed through her tears. “Unnie, your makeup …”

And only then, Irene realized that she had cried as well. And that she looked way more horrendous than Seulgi, because she had not expected to cry today and thus has chosen the non-water resistant mascara and the result were some very ugly stains.

Seulgi reached over and dabbed her cheeks as well. No doubt it made things worse. “You look like a mess, unnie.”

“Look who's talking,” Irene argued back.

There was silence as they cleaned each other and themselves up, and Seulgi sat back and regarded her. She smiled again, weak and embarrassed, but also a bit happy.

“You saved my life,” Seulgi said.

You saved mine as well, Irene thought but she didn’t say it aloud. She just couldn't. Not yet. She took a deep breath. “I …” Then her voice broke and she tried to collect herself, tried to breathe and instead just frowned with a lot of concentration, as she tried to right the crack in that emotional armor of hers.

Seulgi eyed her, very carefully reached out and touched the frown between Irene’s eyes with the pad of her index finger. The warmth spread out like a flower.

“So you do go out, without any super powers,” Seulgi said. “In a costume with these small little cute ears on your head and you hunt evil guys?”

It didn’t sound clever or that heroic when Seulgi said it. “... yes.”

“Are they bunny ears?” Seulgi asked, her eyes earnest and questioning.

Irene reached up and took Seulgi’s hand. She could feel the other girl flinch, but she allowed it and then squeezed Irene’s hand back. “They are bat ears,” Irene said slowly with a kind of fake haughtiness that made Seulgi chuckle.

“Why not bunny ears?” Seulgi asked.

“Because bunny ears are not exactly scary,” Irene said.

Seulgi sniffled and wiped her eyes messily once more, letting go of Irene’s hand. She pulled out her cellphone and typed something in. The display showed a picture of a bat that looked with big, trustworthy eyes at the camera.

Irene’s gaze was icy as she regarded the animal. Seulgi was unimpressed.

“But unnie, bats aren’t exactly scary either.”

“They suck blood.”

“But they look like this.” Seulgi said and waved the cellphone at Irene’s nose.

Irene caught her hand and deliberately ignored how Seulgi stiffened and squeezed her hand back.

“They are scary,” she insisted in the face of the cute bat baby picture that nibbled at a banana. “And I want to point out that I am the night and those bat ears strike fear in the hearts of my enemies.”

“I’m sure your cast that says ‘scratch here to eject’ only adds to the fear part,” Seulgi mumbled under her breath, trying to wrestle down her shyness.

Irene looked at her, and tried not to show her surprise at the decently witty answer. She leaned in a bit closer and Seulgi, while not moving away, looked everywhere, except Irene’s face. She still looked like a mess, with puffy eyes and wet cheeks, but Irene couldn’t help but find her beautiful. “What did you say?”

Seulgi’s voice was nervous, but showed a certain kind of resolve. It was a strange look, her being sincere and at the same awkward like this. “You are too soft to be the night,” Seulgi said. Irene could tell that she was awkward and determined at the same time. Her eyes met Irene’s and gleamed. “Joohyun unnie.”

Irene felt herself unable to answer and felt her lips part slightly, along with her heart. The dear doctor was so nervous, she could tell, and was flushed and was sweating, had barely dried tears and still sniffled a bit. Yet she managed to hold her gaze. Irene leaned in and she could see Seulgi swallow heavily, then close the gap.

Softer than she had anticipated; more gentle than she had anticipated. Seulgi was so careful with her, her kisses so fragile, so caring, despite knowing what Irene was capable of.

It made Irene push forward, wanting more of that care, wanting more of what Seulgi tasted like, and the other women emitted a surprised sound and then - then Irene felt an arm around her midsection, a hand splayed out on the lower part of her back, as Seulgi pulled her closer, her other hand cradling her cheek.

Much to Irene’s surprise, it were Seulgi’s kisses that grew quickly to a steady, heated fire, nudging at her upper lip, and finally asking for entrance. When they finally tasted each other, Irene groaned softly at the thought that she wanted to push the good Doctor back onto a prospective bed and just have her way with her, but when a cold pad of a finger drew a long line down her thigh, the thought evaporated with a small popping sound.

She groaned and Seulgi took it as a cue to kiss her deeper.

She felt herself move forward and crane up, curving her back to meet her halfway and Seulgi’s hand drew slow circles on her thigh. The feeling made her go slowly mad. Her breathing grew heavy and harsh - and Seulgi moved away, concerned.

A sound of frustration escaped Irene’s lips.

“Are you well?” Seulgi asked, her hand gently carding through her hair.

“I want a second date,” Irene blurted out.

Seulgi blushed and smiled. “Alright.”

“Somewhere more private,” Irene added. Her hand had moved to Seulgi’s chin, the side of her index finger and her thumb stroking it, looking at her lips, her nose, her eyes.

She was incredibly beautiful and Irene wondered what it took so see her lips part and call out her name and …

Seulgi slowly squeezed her thigh deliciously. Irene bit her lip to suppress the moan.

“And a third date,” she demanded, almost petulantly.

Seulgi laughed. “It’s a deal.”

*

To carry an entire bag of freshly baked croissants through a boarding school with supernaturally gifted kids required some special preparations.

“Miss Bae, Miss Bae! Are those croissants?” Yeojin blipped into existence out of nowhere. She sat on the back of an enormous, yellow tiger that produced a strange kind of meowing sound:

“ Aeong! ”

Irene strode down the corridor. It was early in the morning, on a Sunday as well, so most students were still asleep, but Yeojin and Hyunjin, and that usually meant Heejin as well, and maybe Yeji and Lia, looked like the just came back from a night of adventures in the gardens of Bae Manor.

Irene gave a nod over her shoulder towards the student kitchen. “I brought you guys some as well, but!” she said immediately, when Hyunjin was about to dash away. “I counted them! Three per person, and that includes Miss Vivi and Miss Haseul!” She pointed at them with her free hand. “I’m warning you!” She pointed at the tiger’s nose.

The tiger squinted at the nose in her face.

“I’m talking to you especially, Hyunjin!”

“ Aeong, ” Hyunjin, the 310-kg-heavy, breadloving tiger exclaimed.

“Good,” Irene said.

Yeojin waved and then she and Hyunjin bounded down the corridor and were gone.

She crossed the mansion into the Western part. She passed remnants of games on the way: soccer balls, one baseball, an assortment of lacrosse sticks. There were small buckets of paint stacked under one window and next to it, new bookshelves had been set up, filled with classics, children’s literature, comics, manga and text books.

The mansion was not filled with artists and scientists and writers, like it had been when her parents were still alive, but then again …

Someone had continued the long row of oil paintings that depicted Irene’s family member and added a new picture. It had been painted by a new arrival who was busy setting it up.

Irene wasn’t very tall, but she was taller than the shy Chinese girl that had only arrived two weeks ago with three of her friends. They drew a lot of scary things, among them a large, looming snake, but this picture depicted her and her three friends: Happy, outside, with trees, and the sun and a rainbow.

“I’ll help you, Ningning,” Irene said, set the croissants aside and hung up the picture. The frame was crude wood and it was a bit uneven but neither Ningning nor Irene cared.

“Thank you, Miss Bae!” Ningning called out, bowed, then waved and hurried down the corridor.

Irene watched her and picked up her bag again. She smiled and then minutes later arrived in the part of the mansion that was occupied by her and Seulgi.

It had been used, in the past, by her parents. They had done renovations and now, Irene felt comfortable.

It had a kitchen and Irene hadn’t been in her kitchen since her parents had died. It was the perfect kitchen - spacey, with a row of sharp knives on one wall, a large fridge with an ice spender, a coffee machine from Italy, a kitchen island, an induction stove.

It was almost completely empty - the cook had a larger, more professional kitchen on the lower floor and Irene considered sustenance something necessary to survive or social glue. She had given up on cooking altogether.

But now that life had returned to the house, things slowly started to change.

She had found Yeri and Joy outside of the kitchen, both clad in running clothing and knowing smirks on her face.

Irene wanted to ignore them, but Joy said: “She’s in the kitchen. She made us breakfast.”

“But we thought it’s better to leave you lovebirds alone,” Yeri asked and then proceeded to make kissing movements.

Joy headlocked her and dragged her away, but her smile was, for once, not smirky. It was genuine and happy. Irene found it incredibly confusing.

It seemed to amuse Joy even more.

When she entered, Seulgi was nowhere to be seen. She just found two plates, freshly pressed orange juice and cutlery set out - so she opened the bag and started to take out the croissants.

Two arms moved around her midsection and a body pressed closer. Irene smiled, but continued what she was doing, even when Seulgi started to peck small kisses against the side of her neck and behind her ear.

“Thank you for bringing food,” Seulgi whispered in her ear. “For us and for the kids and for Haseul and Vivi.”

Irene’s smile brightened. It did that a lot most recently.

“I find … a certain kind of joy doing it these days,” she admitted, then turned to face her girlfriend.

Seulgi smiled back. “These days?”

“Mhm,” Irene said. “These days.” She craned up a bit and kissed her lips - and when Seulgi kissed her back, Irene could tell, almost immediately, that Seulgi would most likely not stop kissing her. She also knew the reason - Seulgi was happy to provide it.

“When I woke up,” she said, a small whine coloring her voice, as she continued to kiss her way down Irene’s throat. “You were gone so the only thing that I could do was set the table and entertain the kids.” She nibbled a bit at the skin, before licking it better.

“Seulgi …”

Memories from the last two months flashed before her inner eye. Seulgi hovered around her in public, closeby and always attentive, but rarely touched her, only if she perceived someone as a threat: Irene’s accountant Changmin, who was almost twice Seulgi’s size and whom she had stared down the first time they met or Sakura, her Japanese lawyer, who adored Irene a bit too much.

In private, however, like this, she was much more touchy than Irene would have anticipated. Irene remembered trying to please her, but Seulgi’s touches easily set her on fire, made her writhe and breath against parted lips and kind and intense eyes staring down at her.

Her touches were always gentle, always questioning, her smile full of affection, and sometimes she just stepped close, her expression unreadable, and kissed her. Sometimes she stepped close and kissed her and wouldn’t step back. Like now.

Seulgi was a carer - and she took care of Irene very well.

It was surprising and new and scary for Irene - she had never given up control or the upper hand voluntarily, ever. She usually had to be forced to do it and usually she wrestled it back.

But Seulgi, Seulgi laughed her typical laughter, - heu heu heu -, opened doors for her, brought her flowers just because, passed behind her, her hands a fleeting touch on her hips and had her way with her against most surfaces of their apartment.

Amongst the life blooming in her house, with quiet evenings and less playing Chess, Irene felt, indeed happy.

She tried to have more poetic thoughts about it, but with Seulgi behind her, with her pushing away the hair from her neck and setting kisses there, with her pressing her against the kitchen island, with her hand on her stomach, wandering downwards, that made her quiver and fold forward, it was difficult to have any kind of thought.

Still Irene tried as Seulgi worked hard to please her. She was a fan of hard workers.

“Let’s go for ice cream today,” Irene asked, the last word drowned in a moan.

She felt Seulgi’s smile against the curve of her throat and shoulder. “Alright,” the taller woman whispered.

Irene turned her head to look at her and touched her chin to make her look back. Like this, Seulgi had to look up, her head on her shoulder, and Irene had to look down, but they weren’t kidding anyone.

Irene breathed hard, busy to finish her marathon.

“Let’s go to the museum - hah - after,” Irene demanded, fully aware that her voice was high and airy.

Seulgi picked up the pace, and still eyed her, a soft smile there. She nosed her cheek, her chin, soft kisses against her  “Alright.”

Irene let her head fall back, against the side of Seulgi’s, the other girl relentless: close, arms around and inside her, making her pay for leaving her alone this morning.

Irene had already chosen the armchair on which she would pay her back.

It was a new game - not one you played against another person, but one you played with another person.

“I won’t play chess anymore, ever,” Irene whispered.

And Seulgi smiled and kissed her and held her when she finally fell into the perfection and a wholeness that was her life.

It was good.

end (3/3).

Notes:

As usual, this was planned as a one shot and got out of control, so chapter one is here. Rating will go up later. I hope you enjoy.

(Also parts of this are non-beta-ed because I juggled some things around and didn't want to bother my betas again. Still, thank you, Ten, for everything you did, and thank you Ninna, for the comments.)

Come talk to me at @barefootnotea on Twitter.

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 2 of How to catch a superhero?