The first quarrel happened after a customer was trying to hit on Irene for the fifth time in the week and it was only Wednesday. Seulgi was never the type to get jealous over irrational things and Irene was also one who knew how to never give any false hopes to suitors until the answer she gave to the guy was what Seulgi couldn’t seem to accept.

“What do you mean you are not seeing anyone?”

A hand on her waist, the other brushing her hair backwards in annoyance, Seulgi questioned when they went back to her dorm. Irene sat on the bed, head hanging low. 

“What matters most is that I rejected him, Seulgi.”

“Apparently it didn’t work and that’s why he keeps coming back! And my point is, aren’t we seeing each other? Or is it that to you we are just friends? Because we aren’t exclusive, because we don’t have a status?”

“We are not just friends and you know that! But it is true too that we have no status, alright?”

It surprised Seulgi that she was physically frozen and yet burning on the inside at the same time when those words left Irene’s mouth. Fury was clouding her mind, almost deterring her from formulating coherent sentences. She took two steps closer to where Irene was at. 

“You were the one who didn’t want any status and you are using it on me? You don’t even want me to say I love y-"

“Are you crazy? Keep it down!” 

Irene bolted up from her original sitting position and knocking her knee hard onto the side table but cared little, only fearing that somebody else could have hear their heated conversation, especially with how Seulgi’s voice was rising gradually.

“See what I mean?” Seulgi hissed as she finally closed the last distance between them, eyes betraying all the emotions that she was feeling. “I am crazy, Irene, and I am crazy over you! I don’t understand why I can’t even declare my love for you when it’s just two of us!”

With that being said, they both heard a knock on the bedroom door and Irene thought her heart was about to fail. Moonbyul, the housemate just returned from her night classes. 

“Hey, I heard a bang and thought I should check on you both in case you were having a love fight. Are you guys fine?” 

Irene nodded her head as her eyes darted nervously between Seulgi and Moonbyul, body tensed more than it already was when they were described to be having a love fight. Her mind was wondering and heart was praying that the roommate didn’t hear any of the content in details. 

“W- we are not lovers by the way, just thought you should know and we are alright.”

If Seulgi was thankful for anything of her housemate, it would be her fast retreat to her own room because there were tears which couldn’t defy gravity anymore longer, staining Seulgi’s face and wounding Irene’s heart. 

“Why is it so easy for you to say that we are more than friends but we have no status, that we are more than friends but not lovers? How..?” 

All Irene could do was to cry, just like how Seulgi was. She tugged at the sides of the latter’s shirt, wanting to pull in for a hug but the taller girl turned her back against Irene. How did their fight even escalate so fast and out of control?

“I don’t think we are alright at all, Irene. Maybe you should go.”

“Seulgi please, hear me out. I’m sorry, please don’t turn your back against me..” 

When there was no signs of compiling to her plead, Irene could only sob harder as she slipped her arms to the front of Seulgi, pressing her front up for a back hug. Afraid of rejection, she only circled her hold stronger. She needed to feel the presence of Seulgi. She was more than sorry for the situation that they were in and she didn't like where this was going.  

"I'm petrified, Seul... We are not in a country that accepts our kind of relationship. We were brought up to find the man of our lives but here we are, doing the opposite. We will get condemned, we will get hate, we will be dealing with nasty things that may eventually pressurise us into giving in to the norm and I don't want that to happen because I don't want us to end up being nothing..”

Seulgi's tears seemed to have a control of their own because there was no sign of them subsiding and if any, more were pouring out after the confession of Irene's. As much as she would like to convince herself that there was a way out of this homophobic society, there wasn't much that was within her means of doing. She's just a collage student, in love with a fresh graduate who just got her business up and going.

Every word pained her, making her feel more helpless than she had ever been in life. Her body trembled with each sniff she took and when Irene's holds loosened, she panicked. Irene stood before her instead, mirroring her puffy eyes. Slipping both hands around the neck of the taller girl, she pulled Seulgi into the comfort of her arms, ruffling the hair lovingly like how she always did. 

Whatever anger that was scalding the inside of Seulgi had simmered, but not without the replacement of an intensive sadness. It was their first fight and it never crossed Seulgi's mind that the start of one could lead to more and eventually like what Irene mentioned, them having to end up being nothing. The thought of that alone made her heart cramped. She buried her face deeper into the neck, arms encircling around the tiny waist with much effort, as if she was afraid that Irene would vanish if she let go. 

"A status can be broken but we can't break what we don't have." Irene tightened the hug. "If we don't have something that can be broken, then baby, we will never be broken." 

"I don't want us to ever be nothing."

Irene withdrew from the hug to look into the eyes of Seulgi with a soft, forlorn smile. She briefly captured the lips of the younger one who was unsatisfied at their short-lived intimacy, urgently wanting to lean in for more of the taste. 

"Seul.."

Irene moved away from the kiss to speak but it didn't stop Seulgi's lips from planting random kisses on her face, her chin, her nose and her jawline. She was melting into those pecks especially when it was travelling up her jawline, stopping right below her ear where she could feel every breath that was exhaled. 

"Seulgi, say it."

"Hmm..?" 

"Say- say the three words to me."

A moment before, Seulgi was still busy showering her affection through her kisses and the next, she halted when the request was made. She thought her ears were playing tricks on her, until she watched how those eyes twinkled with anticipation for her to fulfil it. Before she could question anymore, Irene bit her lower lip as if to bring her back from her thoughts, then ghosted another kiss. 

"Irene, I... I love you." 

Little did she know the three words so commonly heard everywhere would get her so worked up and what made her shivered with adrenaline crushing through her body, making her weak in the legs was when Irene spotted the biggest beam, all the while staring straight into her eyes before declaring with the quietest voice ever.

"And I love you too." 

Three months after their first kiss back at the cafe's kitchen, they had their first quarrel. Three months into their little ambiguous relationship, Irene was brave enough to let them confessed their love for each other. Three months of two individuals became one when three simple words joined their hearts. 

Three months of everything and Seulgi knew, her definition of happiness was named, Irene.