A/N: Hi everyone, before we begin, I have something to say. There was a rude reader who got mad at me because I wrote Irene’s character to like men here. She said she just wanted a lesbian rep. So, I have a few things to say to people like her:

1) I am the one spending time/energy writing this fic and I want to write a biual character this time. If you don’t want it, you can write your own fic. Also, you’re biphobic. Get out of my stuffs.

2) You have no right to dictate how a free fanfic writer should write because you don’t pay them a cent. That’s called being entitled.

3) When I said I don’t write “serious” hetero, I mean even though Irene’s character is bi, my focus is still Seulrene. Men are literally just here as plot accessory? Lmao. If you can’t handle a bi character interacting with men at all, read point number 1 again.

Anyway, the rest of you have been very lovely and supportive, so I wish you a good day and a good read <3

Shout-out to movie “Ex Machina” and to series “Sense8” for parts of this chapter.

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

Joohyun had so rarely gone to her college these days, she felt like she didn’t even have the rights to call the place hers anymore.

As she walked into the building, she recognized only a handful of people – seven at most, really – even though everybody seemed to know her.

Wide-eyed, some students paused in the hallway and gawked at her silently, while others seemed to point at her and whispered to their friends excitedly.

And oh, Joohyun knew that the world would prefer her – and any other women – to always play it humble and downplay their own achievement, but with herself, she could be honest that she damn loved the achievements she had got.

Just three years ago, when she walked down the very same hallway as a freshman, barely anyone knew her name. Now, almost everybody did.

And for newly rising actresses like herself, recognition was one of the biggest milestones they could have asked for after tolerating so much crap behind the screen.

So, yes, Joohyun would revel in her achievement, even if the world would call her vain for it. She deserved it after all the sweat and tears she had shed.

“Look at you, being superstar so early in the morning.” Seulgi mused as she leaned on the lockers, a bag slung on her shoulder and her arms crossed in front of her chest.

Joohyun had just attended to a group of students asking for photographs and signatures, taking nearly half an hour to give them what they wanted one by one until they dispersed with thankful, happy faces.

“What can I say? Some people just love their job.” She flashed Seulgi her own grin as she approached her, slowly taking in her looks. “Hi, you. You look really great today.”

Seulgi snorted lightly and looked down at herself as if she couldn’t believe what she said. “Please. You and everybody in this campus must have seen me in this kind of flannel for 100 times. I’ll probably start getting free clothes from everybody just because they’re sick of me wearing flannels.”

Joohyun laughed. “That’s not gonna happen. You rock these flannels better than anyone in this entire campus. If they stop you, it will be purely out of jealousy.” She smiled and gave Seulgi an even better onceover, dragging her eyes appreciatively from her head to toe.

Sleeves rolled up to elbows, the body-fitting navy flannel was tucked into her blue jeans at its front, its back let loose to tail freely behind her. A pair of brown, high-heeled boots completed her look, even matching the color of her messenger bag perfectly.

Seulgi was always effortlessly stylish.

Pretty much anything – even the simplest of getup – that looked ordinary on anyone else, looked unfairly attractive on her.

And maybe, it was also backed by the fact that she just had a really good body proportion.

Wide shoulders on boys had never done much for Joohyun, but on Seulgi, they looked absolutely devastating. And don’t even get her started on her slender but incredibly toned figure – courtesy of her regular workout – and her legs that seemed to go on for miles…

The sound of Seulgi clearing finally yanked her attention back up from said legs and body to her face, and that was when Joohyun realized that she had been staring at Seulgi for a tad too long. Again.

It seemed to happen more and more often lately for reasons she couldn’t pinpoint.

“I’m sorry, that was –” She stopped trying to explain midway, because really, how could she explain something she didn’t fully understand herself? Then, she noticed that Seulgi was apparently looking just as flustered as she was, if not more.

Her cheeks were bright crimson and she was fidgeting from foot to foot, hurling her gaze away from Joohyun when she caught hers.

That had been happening more and more often lately too. That unexplainable, nervous energy that Seulgi seemed to get when she was around.

The thought made Joohyun frown with concern because she didn’t like the idea of her making Seulgi uncomfortable in any way. “Did something happen when I came back from Macau?” She asked, knowing that the weird behavior had begun since that night even though she couldn’t remember properly because she was drunk.

“Huh? What?” Seulgi’s gaze snapped back to meet hers widely, looking like a deer caught in the headlights for unknown reasons. “What – what do you mean with that?”

“I don’t know.” Joohyun shrugged unsurely, trying to put her fingers on what was different between them but failing. “You just seem…nervous around me, that’s all, after that night.”

Seulgi’s expression seemed stunned for a moment before she slowly cleared . “N-nothing. I’m just…I think I’m just nervous about my film. It’s been bothering me a lot.”

She was lying. Joohyun knew.

When Seulgi lied, her voice quivered around the edges and her teeth sank into her bottom lip. Joohyun knew this because they had been best friends for so long.

But, because they had been best friends for so long, she also knew that with Seulgi, it was better to let go than to push sometimes.

Because Seulgi got anxious easily and Joohyun would rather she took things on her own pace than felt forced to share something she wasn’t ready to. It would only serve to make her more distressed and Joohyun would never do that to her for her personal curiosity.

So, she decided to play along. “Don’t worry, I’m sure it’s going to be a hit at the festival.” She smiled reassuringly, watching how Seulgi’s eyes blinked at her with a hint of surprise. That let her know that Seulgi knew she was letting her off easy with the lie.

It was okay.

“Hey, by the way, why don’t you ever ask me for a picture like the other students?” She tried to shift the mood back to a lighter, playful one, cracking her widest grin for Seulgi. “I know you’ve seen me since I was eight and snotty and all, but I’m a pretty sought-after celeb now, you know?”

Seulgi seemed to breathe again at her joke and finally broke into a small laugh despite herself. “You’re insufferable, that’s what you are.”

Joohyun pretended to roll her eyes. “Get your phone out. Let’s take a photo. I want to commemorate this day. The day we start script-reading for your first film. It’s monumental, even if you like to play it down.”

“Alright, alright.” Seulgi conceded with a half sigh and a half chuckle, fishing out her phone from her jeans’ pocket. “Are we taking it here, though? People are staring at us –"

“We’re just taking a selfie, Seulgi. We’re not making out or groping each other against these lockers.”

Seulgi’s phone nearly slipped from her fingers as she seemed to choke on her own spit. Her face turned dark red as she coughed violently.

Joohyun laughed and ran a hand up and down her back to pat her. “God, you’re still such a prude after all these years. Choking over such a small joke. I definitely need to teach you bad stuffs again. It’s been too long since I last did.”

“I’m fine.” Seulgi refuted once she could breathe again, finally escaping the clutch of near death. “You take the photo.” She passed her phone to Joohyun, face still beet red.

Joohyun grinned and took it, holding it out in front of them. “Now, ignore all the people and give me an actual smile for this photo. Else, I’ll go around telling everyone that you used to cry over getting flu shots.”

Seulgi’s eyes rolled but her lips curled up against her will. In the end, the photo came out nicely, with a genuine big chuckle showing on her face despite the still pinkish color.

Joohyun looked happy next to her too, nose scrunching up playfully as she made a peace sign with her fingers on her cheek. Seulgi’s head was bent down a little to even out their height difference, resting against the side of hers.

Joohyun thought they looked good and happy together.

“Send this to me later?” She passed the phone back, linking their arms together as they walked to the script-reading room. “I want to print it. One for you and one for me, so we can keep it in our wallets. Today is an important day to you, so it is to me too.”

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

Ever since Joohyun first heard about Lay seeking Seulgi out all those years ago, she had had an irrational dislike for the guy.

Irrational, because she knew that there wasn’t really anything to dislike about him.

At first, she had assumed that she disliked him because she worried he would turn out to be the typical, douchey college guy who loved to fool high school girls, but after entering the college herself, she had learned that he was…nothing of sort.

He was actually a great guy, all mindful and polite and good looking. If she was being honest, he was even better than all the guys she had spent time with.

So…why did she still dislike him somehow?

The question remained plaguing her through the entirety of script-reading, as all of them – actresses, actors, screenwriter, director, and assistant producers – sat around the long table and did the reading.

Well, everyone except for her, it seemed, because she was apparently staring intensely at Lay from across the table instead of reading her lines.

She was still trying to figure out what she disliked about him when he suddenly addressed her. “Joohyun, would you like to read your lines now with Donghae?”

Joohyun startled out of her thoughts and looked around her, finding everybody apparently already staring at her expectantly and waiting for her for god knew how long.

Damn it.

Unprofessional-looking. Definitely the last thing she wanted on her book.

She cleared . “I’m sorry, yes.” She turned to face Donghae immediately, one of the senior students from acting major who would play as the genius but disturbed man who created her humanoid character in the film. He was sitting beside her.

Joohyun closed her eyes and prepped herself.

They were supposed to act out the scene where Anna, her character, was trying to trick her creator, Max, into believing that she liked him, even though all she wanted to do was drive a piece of the jagged metal from her hand into his ribcage and kill him to escape.

When Joohyun opened her eyes again, she was Anna and not herself. Her face, usually expressive, was schooled to be devoid of any emotion, save for the small, excited spark in her eyes to let the audience – and Max – know that Anna was in there.

“Max.” She said almost breathlessly, her voice spiked with just a little bit of necessary enthusiasm but still maintained with the monotonic quality a robot’s voice should have. The corners of her lips curved up into a smile, but not too wide. “What do you think of this dress I am wearing? Do you think it looks great on me?”

Donghae’s character, Max, in a deep breath as he stared at her with acted awe. “My god. How did you find that dress? I kept it in my room –"

In the movie, Anna would walk over to his space at this moment and stand only a breath apart from him.

Her face remained clear and open – almost innocent, even – as she asked him a strikingly opposite, tantalizing question instead. “That is not an important question. The important question is, how do you know my measurement so well? This dress is perfectly tailored to my body size. Have you been watching me a lot in secret? You must have, for you to remember all the details of my body so well.”

Max’s voice was heavy with lust but cocky as he quirked a lazy smile at her, thinking that she knew nothing when he was the one who had no idea about what was about to happen to himself. “Why, I made you. Of course I know all your measurements without having to watch you like a creep.” He lied. “Why would you ever get that thought?”

Anna smiled, and at this moment, in the film, she would be leaning forward to whisper into his ear. “Because I am the one who has been watching you in secret.” And there, finally split into a wide, wicked grin that had never been seen on her before.

The audience would find out seconds before she murdered Max that she was the one who had been studying him and tricking him all this time.

“Well done, Joohyun! Well done.” Lay put an end to the scene with a sincere applause, which was followed unanimously by all the other staffs in the room.

Joohyun stopped and blinked out of her character slowly, looking around the room to find everyone clapping with awestruck looks. Nothing felt better than delivering a character perfectly and having everyone stunned.

“Oh, you’re such a method actress! That was deliciously executed to the smallest details.” One of the other assistant producers praised. “The micro-expressions, the way your face remained stoic as a robot’s but your eyes were alight to keep the audience engaged, and the way your sweet smile turned so terrifyingly sinister at the end…it’s just…stellar.”

Everybody in the room nodded with awe and shared the same positive feedbacks, making the sense of pride and satisfaction in Joohyun’s chest swell even more.

Well, that was, until the director – the quiet woman who hadn’t talked to her or even looked at her since she came today – suddenly decided to speak up. “I think there’s something missing from it. I don’t really like it, actually.”

Instantly, the awed murmurs inside the room died and everybody turned to look at her with surprise.

Joohyun would have been flattered by their indirect defense for her, but she was still so thrown-off by the woman’s sudden critic herself, she just kind of stared at her blankly.

Then, when she finally managed to move past her shock, the mortification set in.

This woman had just told the entire room that she didn’t like her acting.

“What is it that you think is lacking?” She questioned carefully, trying to keep her voice as calm as the surface of sea-ice, even though a violent turbulence went underneath her.

The woman – Director Lee Sunmi, she remembered now from Lay’s brief introduction earlier – finally looked at her properly for the first time from across the table.

She was gorgeous. With beautiful, long black hair that cascaded past her shoulders and smart, dark eyes that held her gaze steadily.

And something in that gaze felt almost as headstrong and as challenging as her own.

Joohyun recognized that look because she saw it in the mirror every day when she woke up and told herself that she would be acknowledged as a great actress one day and not just as a pretty face.

So, the fact that that goal had just been challenged…just completely got under her skin.

Sunmi didn’t bat an eyelash before she launched into further critics. “You’re too flirty. Too ual. You need to appear more mysterious and withdrawn for this character to work. She’s a humanoid who is supposed to be unreadable by the audience, not one who looks like she wants to jump the guy’s .”

If Joohyun hadn’t been so trained in maintaining her expression, she would have gaped with shock at the crude, harsh comment. Her teeth ground as she tried to reply calmly. “I thought the aim is to let the audience believe that she’s into him just like he does? Aren’t we going for the surprising plot twist at the end?”

“Yes, but you don’t have to look so obviously seductive throughout the entire thing. We need subtlety. A faint hint that’s enough to show that she may be interested in him, but not too much to make it look like she’s actively lusting after him.”

“Well, I thought I was being subtle enough. Everybody else seems to agree that the micro-expressions were on point. So, I really don’t know how much subtler you want me to be.”

The air in the room, despite being airconned, seemed to skyrocket to a thousand degree as the two women stared down at each other hard.

Everybody in the room fretted awkwardly and only passed each other uncertain looks because they didn’t know what to do.

Even Lay, who was leading the entire crew, looked flustered.

It was Seulgi who finally broke in with a timid hand rise. “Um, actually, I think both parties have valid points. I get what Sunmi is trying to say…but I also think that Joohyun didn’t go overboard. I think we’ll find the perfect, fine balance between the two as the rehearsals go further in the future. It’s, um, okay for now, I think.”

Joohyun frowned at her.

Why was she trying to be all diplomatic instead of taking her side? It was clear that Sunmi was trying to nitpick a problem that didn’t exist.

And why was she addressing Sunmi as ‘Sunmi’ instead of ‘Sunmi sunbaenim’ or ‘Director Lee’? Seulgi had never spoken casually to a senior before unless they were close. Did they knew each other personally?

“Uh, I agree! Thank you, Seulgi.” Lay seized the chance to pause the heated up situation, looking impossibly grateful for Seulgi’s interruption. “I think it will work out better after a few more rehearsals...um, how about we move on to the next scene for now?”

The other actors nodded in agreement and went back to work, taking turns to read their lines with each other.

At the end of the reading, when Joohyun closed her script and looked up with a small frown, she found Sunmi still staring at her with…plain dislike.

When their gazes met,