[✔️] Across The Years | Seulrene

Ch. 31 - Who's the villain

No One's POV

In the week since Irene had arrived, things had swiftly gone from bad to worse. Seulgi did her best to make her feel welcome. She even made meals just like Thomas the cook did back in the past. But the Victorian girl remained quiet and withdrawn. Things between them quickly fizzled out.

Each night, Seulgi went to sleep on the couch, trying to think of how to help Irene— how to help them. But nothing seemed to work.

A devastating setback happened on the 2nd day back. The Korean rebel had to go to her school to register for classes for the upcoming term, so she told Irene that she was going to her school and would return in about 2-3 hours. Irene said she was fine then Seulgi immediately left.

Feeling a bit brave and a little curious to see what the town looked like, Irene decided to take a short walk. She put on one of the conservative dresses Seulgi had gotten for her and went out. She quickly found the Inn her father used to own, but other than that building, everything was different. Even the inn looked larger and different. In the old days, the inn was home. Especially when her mother would greet people at the door.

Now it was just another strange looking pub.

Even more heartbreaking is when she walked around the pub, hoping to see her house but it was gone. Just a car park as Seulgi called it. In fact there was no sign it was ever there, nor the woods that once sat behind it. It was all just odd looking houses and other buildings. The world she had once known had been simply erased.

Heartbroken to see her house gone, she simply moved on. A short while later, she realized she was lost. In her own home town and she had no idea where she was. It was a very unnerving experience and after some wandering around she managed to find her way back. But she was very upset and burst into tears as soon as she got home.

Seulgi who arrived shortly after the Victorian girl got home, found her upset and tried to console her. But Irene said she simply wanted to be alone and shut herself into the bedroom.

Things only seemed to get worse and soon they were more like strangers living together than lovers. They didn't even speak much to each other and the tension seemed to fill the air.

The Korean-American kept trying to help ease Irene into the modern age, but soon found herself very depressed as her efforts all seemed to fail.

Days passed and Irene spend most of her time either reading books from the 1800's or reviewing her old diary entries in the bedroom. She refused to read any of the ones she didn't remember writing.

She did eventually use a bit of technology as Seulgi bought some classical music CD's and showed Irene how to play them. She missed music and sometimes would listen to them. But she was too scared and homesick to do much else.

With each passing day, Seulgi only grew more depressed. She would spend hours watching tv or would sit on the roof looking at the few stars she could see and getting drunk.

The thing about being nostalgic for the old days, that people tend to forget the bad times. And Irene herself soon fell victim to that. She would read the early entries where Mark was still charming and handsome, how he would shower her with attention. Slowly she began to wonder if he really wasn't that bad.

Two weeks passed and Seulgi was about to reenter school for her 2nd year at college. Things with her lover were distant and increasingly tense as she noticed the Victorian girl spent more and more time reading her diaries. Seulgi of course never stopped taking care of Irene. She's all up doing all the wash, and fixing all the meals.