None of Us Saw This Coming

August, 2018: Fools in Love

It had probably been almost a month since the last time Irene could digest anything properly—it might even be way before that but she had never paid it much thought. Things had been really hectic for the girls and it took quite a toll on Irene, yet she could not do much about it; her occupation as an idol had created a routine that she must follow in a constant loop and her role as the leader had taken her to the position where she did not know how to vent or where to. So she chose the easiest way by keeping all her thoughts and worries bottled up—her members needed her anyway, so she had no time to pamper herself—so she believed. At first, it did not affect her, but as time went by, it seemed like it had come to affect her physical health as well. Everyone could not see past her tired eyes because good make-up could always cover even the heaviest eyebags and even when she started losing weight, people just thought it was probably because she was trying a new diet.

And she preferred it that way.

Until the time when things finally got out of hand and her decisions finally took her down in one go. It was in August when they were cast to participate in Idol Star Athletic Championships for Chuseok Special, The Red Velvet's dorm was chaotic since early morning. The girls were taking turns to occupy their lone fighter of a bathroom. Irene was set to compete in archery together with Wendy and Yeri. While Seulgi was set to compete in pitching, then together with Joy, would be competing in bowling. It was probably the fourth time they got to participate in ISAC—Irene had lost count, but she remembered the first time they did, the five of them were extremely nervous about the thought of them doing it terribly (they eventually did terribly in the end, but at least they were having fun). So then it was their fourth time, and they were way more relaxed.

Perhaps, they were way too relaxed that they only woke up when their manager Oppa was about to pick them up. Hence, the catastrophe had decided to pay their dorm a visit; Irene was busy preparing breakfast and feeding her members, Seulgi and Wendy were busy getting ready, while the chaotic duo Joy and Yeri were screaming at each other asking the other about their belongings. They managed to survive the chaos by the skin of their teeth; cleaning up after coming back would be a massive pain in their arses though.

"This is why I told you guys to sleep early last night," their manager Oppa complained to the girls who could only murmur tiny apologies because they knew they should have done exactly what they were told the night before.

It was only yesterday when they spent almost their entire day at the company for their next comeback that would be released in November. It had not been announced to the public yet but the preparation had started way before and yesterday Irene had started to record her part along with Wendy, while Seulgi, Joy, and Yeri spent their day with fitting. Well, Seulgi, Joy, and Yeri only left for fitting after belting their diaphragms to pulps with dizzy heads, trying to hit this one particular note for the song, a D7 it was, which Irene managed to do effortlessly. She was actually surprised herself.

Thanks to her screeching habit (that appeared whenever she was scared or surprised—which was roughly most of the time, considering how much of a scaredy pants she was) that usually ended up almost bleeding everyone's ears, because it was as if her habit had shaped and sharpened her whistling skill for that exact moment.

After a long day, they should have indeed rested their body up because they all knew perfectly what was waiting for them on the next day. But Netflix happened and it got the best of them that their 'let's watch a movie for a bit' (which was supposed to only take two hours top) ended up becoming a silent agreement to binge-watch To All The Boys I've Loved Before, then proceeded to end up with them sleeping almost as late as early they had to wake up.

"Have you all had your breakfast?"

"Yes!" The girls answered like a bunch of kindergarteners on a school trip. Well, except for one, but she would get by, so Irene confidently thought. The kids were singing happily as they made their way to the venue at Goyang Gymnasium.