When you got back to your apartment, you found Hoshi and DK waiting for you in the living room. When you opened the door, they both jumped up from the couch and power-walked to you. Instantly, they both began to talking. But seeing as they were both talking at the same time, it was hard to understand them.

            “Slow down, “ You said, feeling slightly claustrophobic. They both had cornered you against the door as soon as you closed it behind yourself. You motioned with your hands in the  little space there was between you guys. They both, became aware of their proximity and jumped back to give you space. DK’s ears went pink as a murmured, “Sorry   

“One at a time.”

            “I’m so-“ DK started at the same time Hoshi said, “Understand-.“Both of the boys looked at each other, DK gave Hoshi a nod.

            “Okay, listen, we are so sorry about everything.” Hoshi spluttered his eyebrows meeting in the middle of his forehead.  He shook his prayer hands at you pleadingly. He did look truly sorry.

            “It’s fine.” You said nonchalantly.

            “You have to understand that Woozi-“ DK stopped for a minute, looking at your  blank face in shock and confusion, “Wait, What.”

            “You aren’t pissed?” Hoshi asked, a look of utter disbelief on his face, ”You aren’t just saying that?”

            “Do I look like I’m bothered?”

            “No, actually.” DK said, confused.

            “Ahh, I get it! She’s one of those girls who likes fights.” Hoshi said, a look of pride on his face as if he has solved the puzzle.

            “No! That’s not it at all. I’m just… over it. It doesn’t matter.”

            “She’s definitely lying to us now. I mean he practically burnt your hand!”

            You gasped and looked down at your hand, you had completely forgotten about your hand. Looking at your hand now, it was in bad condition. But it definitely could’ve been worse. Now that you remembered it, you realized that your hand had been hurting in the music shop, but you were enjoying talking to Joshua too much to even notice.

            For a split second you felt yourself get angry again. No, you told yourself, you have control over your own emotions.  It could be worse. Technically, It was your fault. Woozi didn’t directly burn your hand. You have to think positively. Stay calm. Think Positive. Positive.

            “It will be fine. Its not like I broke my hand or anything. It’s manageable.”

            Both Hoshi and DK stared at you with open mouths, “BUT THAT’S YOUR DRAWING HAND!” DK yelled. Joshua was right, that boy really does need to learn volume control.

            “I’ll make it work. It wasn’t directly his fault, anyway.”

            “But he was right there when you-“

            You interrupted Hoshi, with an exasperated tone, “Look, do you guys want me to be angry? Because your trying to give me reason every to be. And acting so shocked that I’m not.”
            “Most people would be. And you were as well! You both were two seconds away from fist fighting”

            “I know.” You sighed, slightly embarrassed at your actions just a couple hours earlier. “But now I’m thinking positively. If I continue to be angry, that won’t solve anything will it? No! So I should just put my emotions aside and think about it logically. Like I should’ve done from the beginning.” You told them matter-of-factly.

            “What are you, a machine?” Hoshi looked at you disgustedly.

            “As long as you don’t kick us out I’m happy with whatever you go for.” DK said.

            “You did promise to not kick us out, remember!” Hoshi added quickly.

            “Yes, I remember.  And I will keep it. Which is why you guys should be glad I’m not mad anymore.”

            “She’s acting strange.” Hoshi huffed at DK, a frown on his face.

            “Hold up,” you laughed uncomfortable, “I am confused. Shouldn’t you be overjoyed that I’m not angry? I’m really not lying here! I’m fine.”

            “You’re confused? I’m confused.” He said throwing his hands up in the air.

            “I think what Hoshi’s trying to get at.” DK shot a dark look his way, “is that we’ve never had someone… respond like this.”

            “Like what?”

            “Like calmly. Normally, after a fight with Woozi, our past roommates have all all sworn  by their desire to rip his throat out. And then they would go to the Housing department to try get him kicked out. That’s how angry they would be.”

            “I mean I was angry. But it’s in the past. There’s no point in continually being angry over something. I was angry and then I got over that anger. Like an adult.” There was a slight tint of annoyance in your voice, you were getting sick of explaining yourself.

            Both of them were silent for a few moments, and it was breaching the verge of awkwardness. You opened your mouth to say something about the topic further but Hoshi pulled to into a constricting hug.

            “I like her!” He said, and your feet were lifted off the ground. You shot DK a wide eyed look over Hoshi’s shoulder, hoping for help, but he just smiled.

            “We won’t get kicked out this year if she keeps this attitude up!” He said loudly again, in an excited voice.

            By the look of their joy, any onlookers would’ve assumed that you just told them that they had just won the lottery.

            You smiled at the thought, Yes, Yes they did. The roommate lottery.

            It took you a few minutes of struggling under Hoshi’s grip before he realized you were doing so. After letting you go, they informed you that after you left, that they themselves had tried to talk about the encounter with Woozi.

            “But he just shuts down whenever we try to talk about it with him.” DK explained, “It’s always, ‘I don’t want to talk about it.’ Or ‘we’ll talk about this later.’ But of course we never do.”
            Woozi  had, apparently, left and told them that he would not be coming back until morning. You asked them where he could’ve  gone but they just shrugged and said they had no clue. They both were worried about him, you could tell, but were hiding it under sarcasm

            “Maybe he will finally become that grumpy man who lives under the bridge.” Hoshi joked with a smile. But then he looked at his feet and you saw that smile die on his face, replaced instead with a frown. When he noticed that you were still looking at him, he plastered the grin back on.

            “I hope he is safe.” You told Hoshi with a nudge. And with that Hoshi’s smile finally faded while looking at you.

“Me too.” He agreed softly.

            Trying to lighten the mood, you turned the conversation to school. Hoshi was a dance major, emphasizing in chorography. DK, on the other hand, was a double major in both education and advertising.

Hoshi talked for a while about a certain dance move that we has trying to get just right. You didn’t understand what he was saying, but you nodded your head and pretended like you did.  DK added in happily about how in a week, his class was taking a field trip to a pre-K classroom. When you asked DK what job he wanted to get with his degrees he just said, “Whatever will make me happy for the most money.”

            The next day, you woke up to find that Woozi still wasn’t back. You were a little concerned. But the worry about Woozi was quickly replaced by the stress that came with school. Now that it was past the first few weeks, the workload was getting heavier.

            You had gone the whole day without thinking about Woozi, but that didn’t mean that you were completely thoughtless. You found yourself hovering over Joshua’s contact in your phone. Was it too soon to call and ask to hang out? If you texted him now, he would surely think you were hitting on him.

            The last thing you wanted to do was make him think that you had ulterior motive. You just wanted to talk to him, he seemed like a really cool guy.

            What could you possibly text him to make your intentions clear. “Hey Joshua, it’s me. Just letting you now that I have no interest in your s. Want to grab lunch?”

            You should just let him text first.

            It was the afternoon, you had just finished up your homework in the library and decided to head back to your apartment. You were too busy thinking about Joshua to even prepare yourself to the possibility that Woozi had returned.

            And he had.

            When you entered the apartment you heard music playing, and you knew immediately. Swallowing your anxiety you entered your bedroom, and pretended he wasn’t there.

            He did the same. When you walked in, he didn’t so much as hesitate playing the next notes on his electric keyboard.

            You both went about your business like this for a couple of hours. Once he left the room, and a few minutes later you followed to go to the bathroom. And just as you were exiting the bedroom, he was entering.

            His body slammed into yours and there was a brief moment of confusion where you both looked at each other. But then his face turned cold, his eyes stared straight ahead and he plowed right through you. You caught yourself on the door frame when he pushed you.

            Be calm, be calm. Be calm. You repeated to yourself. You are the bigger person in this situation.

            And that’s what you told yourself for a week. A whole week went by and you and Woozi continued this charade. No eye contact, no “hello.” Zip, nada, nothing.

            From the outside, you both seemed perfectly content with carrying on with the idea that neither of you even had a roommate.

            Sometimes it would get awkward when Hoshi and DK were brought in the mix. One of them would ask how your day was and once you answered, they would turn the same question to Woozi.  Woozi would always look up with a look of surprise.

            “Oh, hey. I didn’t see you there, what up?” Pretending as if he wasn’t present or heard any of the previous conversation they had with you. Woozi was not only pretending that you didn’t exist, but he was taking it a step further by pretending that anyone who was talking to you, while they were talking to you, also did not exist.

            Frankly, it was draining. It was taking so much of your effort to act the part that it was getting annoying. Every time you walked in a room, you had to be alert in case Woozi was there. Because if he was, and you were unprepared and accidently made eye contact with him…. Well.

            You admit it was childish. But it was working; you hadn’t fought in ten days. But when Hoshi and approached you, you knew things had to change.

            “Its just so awkward around you two!” Hoshi exclaimed, “I’m not asking you guys to friends, just civil. Enough so, that  when I mention you, my roommate, to my other friends, Woozi won’t pretend to think I’m insane.” Apparently once, Hoshi was telling his friends about how you and him watched a movie one night. Hoshi said the word ‘my roommate’ and Woozi made things very uncomfortable.

            Woozi feigned innocence in front of all of Hoshi’s friends making Hoshi embarrassed. “You watched it with DK?” Woozi asked, “But he was with me that night.” This whole situation was very uncomfortable.

            When you asked Hoshi what you should do, he just shrugged. “I have no idea, he’s never really gone this far with it before. He normally just punches people when he’s angry… but that is for guys mainly. I don’t think he could ever punch a girl.”

             Then , Hoshi told you a story about Woozi that seemed to fit the final piece of the puzzle into place. Then an idea came to mind

“That’s it!” You exclaimed, jumping a little, “I know what to do.” You clapped your hands together.

            “What is it?” Hoshi asked.

            You explained to him your plan, and he looked at you  more than a little uneasily. “I don’t know... I mean. It could work. But chances are it is going to be horrible disaster. I guessing ninety percent it will end badly.” Hoshi tried to convinced you some more but you were determined that this was the best plan, no matter how much Hoshi protested that it was a disaster waiting to happen.

            But you were willing to risk it.

            So you sat in the living room and waited.

            You waited for three hours for Woozi to come home. You wanted to catch him as soon as he walked through that door. It would catch him off guard and he would have no option to look you in the eye. And once he did, the whole façade would be over and he would have to talk to you. But that wasn’t even the meat of your delightful plan.

            You heard the key jiggle in the lock on the other side and you sprung up from the couch. Right before the door was opened you wedged yourself in the space between the door and the wall. This way when he opened the door, he wouldn’t see you. His guard would be down automatically.

            You were sure to keep quiet, when the door opened. You peaked in through the crack where the hinges of the door where and saw a blonde ponytail tucked through the hole of a snap back. Bingo.

            He let the door close behind him and you pounced. You grabbed his arm and turned him around. He let out a yell of shock. His eyes were wide with surprise. His hand grasping his chest.

            “WHAT THE HELL?” He yelled, doubling over, heaving. You had really scared him.

            “We need to talk.” You said sternly.

            He looked at you through his mess of blonde hair, “What the hell?” He repeated to himself under his breath. He straightened up and looked at you. “What topic of conversation requires that you frighten the daylights out of them?” 

He was engaging in conversation.

Stage one: Complete.

You ignored his question anyway, “Hoshi and I were talking-“
            “I’ll send my condolences to Hoshi.” He tisked. The surprise had worn off. His cold exterior returned his face blank and his tone dry.

“-and I think that we need to be at least civil with each other for their sake.”

“Ignoring your existence is as civil as I can get, sweetheart.” He said the last word with a look a repulsion on his face. 

“Hoshi is your friend, at least do it for him.”

“Yes, he is. But friendship has its limits.  Would I jump off a cliff if Hoshi asked? No.”

“Jumping off a cliff is one thing-“

“And yet,  seeing your face seems just as painful.”

You felt your right eye start to twitch and he smirked. He started to turn away but you grabbed his forearm. He yanked his arm from your grasp as if you had just burned him with your touch.

“Don’t. Touch. Me.” He hissed with a deadly glare. With the look he was giving you know, you could see why people would be scared of him.

Seeing how he reacted when you touched his arm, Joshua’s words came to mind: in high school, he once made a girl cry because she touched him

            This thought strengthened you, and you just glared right back at him. “Listen to me first.” You demanded, “If you don’t I am going to keep bugging you till you do.”

            He sighed, his expression as cold as ice, “Fine, whatever.” He crossed his arms over his chest.

            He was further engaging in conversation

            Stage Two: Complete

            “Okay,” You took in a deep breath, you had one shot with this. “This is gender neutral housing, right?”

            He just stared and you with a bored expression. Tough crowd.

            “Well, it is.” You answered for him.  “So I think, that we should think of each other as being gender neutral.”

            You proposed the idea to him.

            Stage Three: Complete

            “What nonsense are you one about?”

            “Don’t view me as a girl anymore. Just view me… as a person.”

            His eyebrows furrowed, “What? What does that even mean.”

            “Don’t think of me as a girl anymore.” You repeated.

            “What does you being a girl have to do with anything?” One of his eyebrows raised, he clearly thought you were stupid.

            You grabbed his arm again, and he responded the same way. His arm flew out of your grasp so fast it almost hit you in the face. “What. Did. I. Say. ABOUT TOUCHING-“ he started to yell, furious.

            “This is what I mean!” You yelled back. This time when you yelled it was more to get his attention than anything. You felt pride at knowing that this time you were the one in control of your emotions.  And that he wasn’t. “You don’t like girls touching you.”

            “I don’t like anyone touching me.”

            “Hoshi touches you all the time, and you don’t seem to mind. Joshua even told me-“ , you weren’t supposed to say that.

            Woozi’s head snapped up, eyes wide, “Joshua? How do you know Joshua.”

            You were getting off topic. “That’s not the point.”

            “What did Joshua tell you.”? He was getting even angrier now.

            “He only told me things that reinforced what I already knew was true.” You lied coolly.

            Woozi looked at you skeptically “Which was?”

            “You hate girls.”

            “Correction. I hate annoying and stupid people. Most girls just happen to fall under that category.”

            This almost made you lose your composure. You couldn’t tell if he was actually ist or if he was just saying it just to piss you off. Either reason, you needed to be calm. You needed to have the upper hand.

“Just stop thinking me as a girl and then and we can be civil.”

“You know I used to think you were stupid but know I know you are. Your little head is just there for decoration isn’t it?”

You said nothing, and just glared at him. You were unwilling to play games right now. He looked at your for a minute and realized you were serious. He let out a laugh.

“This is the most ridiculous- Fine okay. Lets go along with whatever this is-“ He motioned towards you with his hands, “How do you want me to stop thinking of you as a girl?” He said with dramatic sarcasm. You braced yourself.

Time to complete the fourth stage.

And with that you punched him. 

A/N I really wanted to post on Woozi's birthday but ALAS i couldn't edit it in time. So Happy Birthday Woozi!

Next chapter I will further explain to her thought process in this whole scene, explain each step, and why she punched him. There are reasons! :)

Also do you think that Woozi really hates girls or is he just saying that? That will be explained LATER LATER on, and tell me what you think. 

Kind of introducing another member of SEVENTEEN in the next chapter (i did say kinda). Who do you want it to be?

As always, negative and positve feedback is encouraged :)