Mari sighed heavily before she stood up and started to stretch her back, only to smile in relief when she heard a satisfying 'crack'. She's been up on her project all night, actually it wasn't even an urgent project, but she was wide awake, and she had nothing better to do. Kim Mari is a college student, she is single, and she lives alone because her parents refused to move to Seoul, even if it meant not seeing their daughter because she had to attend school in Seoul, so they just bought an apartment for her.

She doesn't really have friends, maybe one or two, but those weren't really counted friends that she could hangout with. It's just more like, school friends, you know. The ones that only talk to her in school. Mari shook her head. Her life was sure a pretty boring life. She stretched once more before her eyes trailed to the clock. "Oh! It's time for lunch!" She exclaimed happily.

Only food can make her happy. Food.

Mari quickly took her jacket, phone and wallet before heading downstairs. Crooking her neck side to side, she realized the bodyguard wasn't here today, since it was her daily routine to greet the bodyguard downstairs. She quickly headed to the nearest convenience store and bought some ramen and kimbap, mixing it up into her very own recipe. She liked creating new mixtures of food at the convenience store, it was kind of fun.

Right after finishing her meal, she slowly strolled back home. That's how her life was for the past few years, until...

"Miss Kim! I heard that someone will move into the apartment beside yours! You're finally going to have a new neighbour!" the bodyguard said when she greeted him the next morning. "Eh? Really?" her eyes were as wide as saucers before they curved into an exciting smile. "I see that you're happy already. Your neighbour will move in this afternoon so you'll probably see him or her when you return after school!" the bodyguard chuckled.

"Alright thank you for the information ahjussi! I'll see you in the afternoon." Mari smiled as she bowed politely before walking off to school. Many questions filled her mind. Is her new neighbour a male or a female? A college student? A young adult? Just the thought of her neighbour being a young male excites her as she relish the fantasies of having a boyfriend like those in dramas.

A loud honk interrupted her thoughts and made her jump in surprise at the same time. She glared at the familiar car beside her before she saw the window wind down. "Mari, get in the car, i'll give you a lift." It was Jaehee, a friend of hers which is studying the same major. "You didn't have to honk so loudly..." Mari mumbled before she went to the other side and entered the car. "Thanks though."

By the time school ended, Mari had already forgotten that she's going to have a neighbour because of the things she messed up at school today. She accidentally broke an expensive lighting when she visited the school's theatre for some enquiries from the art students. She has no choice but to use her savings to pay. "Kim Mari how can you be so clumsy?!" she scolded herself as she kicked the bottom of the elevator, only to hiss in pain as she brought her leg up and started hopping around.

When she reached the floor she was staying at, she was greeted by a whole bunch of furniture right in front of the lift door. "Oh right! A new neighbour is moving in today...but how am I going to get out of the elevator?" one of the movers came out of the apartment and quickly moved the furniture away from the door. "Sorry agassi..." he muttered.

She bowed back in gratitude before proceeding to her apartment, not failing to glance at the apartment beside hers. "Oh? My neighbour is a girl?" Mari muttered as she observed this person standing with the back facing her and a metre away from the door, giving instructions to the movers onto where the furniture should be put. This person had an approximate shoulder length blonde hair which was tied up lowly. "This girl is tall..." Mari mumbled once more as she looked at her neighbour from head to toe before straightening her posture and clearing .

"Annyeonghaseyo! I'm your neighbour next door, Kim Mari ibnida." Mari said, making sure that her voice was loud and clear. And that was when her neighbour turned around, which ignited a sudden scream out of the girl. The moment Mari let out a scream, she covered before mentally scolding herself. Mari how rude of you! Her eyes stared wide at him before she quickly bowed apologetically.

"I'm so sorry for screaming! I'm so so sorry...I shouldn't have screamed...sorry." she said hastily, sorry after sorry, she was embarrassed of her rude behavior. No matter how shocked she was, she can't just scream like that. Mari could hear the latter chuckle softly before she felt his presence right in front of her.

"It's alright, i'm used to it. You don't need to apologize so many times...by the way, my name is Yoon Jeonghan, a college student majoring in arts." he stuck his hand out for a handshake, but Mari's head was still down in remorse as she directly stared at his hands. Gosh, even his hand seemed so beautiful, holy and glorious.

Mari slowly looked back up, she had to angle her head quite abit since he was practically half a head taller than her even though she was considered kind of tall for a girl. Jeonghan smiled at her politely and she noticed that he had rather distinctive features, not only did he look beautiful and glorious, he was on another level of hot and handsome. God.

"Uh hello?" Mari snapped out of her trance before she quickly shook his hand with both her hands. "My name is...Kim Mari...and I major in mass communication...second year...yeah nice to meet you..." she wanted to kill herself. Her voice was trembling so bad and it was downright obvious that she was nervous. She was allergic to boys. No scratch that. She was allergic to beautiful, glorious, hot and handsome boys, especially this guy in front of her which has a shoulder length hair. She cursed at herself. Is this one of her new es?!

"Oh! Then we're of the same age then. But your name sounds kind of familiar though..." Jeonghan replied. Mari furrowed her eyebrows at him as she thought about what he said. Majoring in arts...don't tell me he's from my college...... "By any chance were you the girl that wrecked one of the lightings at the theatre?" he asked.

"I did not wreck the lighting!" Mari accidentally yelled back defensively, which made Jeonghan lean back a little. "I'm sorry..." she mumbled before stepping back. On the other hand, Jeonghan found her extremely humorous and cute and he was glad that she's his neighbour. He wouldn't know what to do if an old grumpy ahjussi lives beside him.

"Alright alright I get it..." He let out a laugh which sounded like music to her ears. Gosh she is going insane, was he teasing her or something? Because it sure seemed like it.

"Jeonghan ssi!" one of the movers hollered and this was Mari's cue to escape the situation. "You seem busy, then i'll get going—" "Wait, do you wanna get lunch together? After i'm done? Since i'm still new to the neighbourhood, maybe you can show me around." he asked and Mari instantly agreed, which she later on scolded herself again. What if she just does nothing but tremble in front of him? Mari really has it bad whenever she's nervous. Her teeth will chatter, her voice will shake and her whole body will tremble.

She stood at her door and banged her head backwards for being so stupid, but that wasn't the point, the point is, she has nothing to wear!

Mari quickly scurried to her wardrobe and her try on fashion show officially begun.

Jeonghan handed the bill over to the movers before he bowed. "Thank you for your hardwork." he smiled to the movers as they nodded back before finally leaving the apartment. He heaved a sigh before he looked at the clock. "Ah it's still early. I guess I can take a quick shower before I go and have lunch with Mari..." Jeonghan mumbled to no one in particular before he nodded and rushed to the bathroom.

15 minutes later, Jeonghan came out of the bathroom only to realize that all his other clothes were still in a box buried beneath the other boxes. He quickly tied a towel around his waist before he quickly tried to find some clothes. Apparently, he didn't want Mari to wait long, so he just wore the clothes that he found first, which was apparently a hoodie and a pair of pants. All his proper shirts were too deep inside and it'll take about half an hour to get everything organized.

He quickly slipped the hoodie and pants on, not forgetting his wallet and his phone before leaving the apartment. Jeonghan stood in front of Mari's door, suddenly not having the courage to ring the door bell, but on the other hand, Mari was already waiting on the other side of her door and she was looking at Jeonghan through the screen beside the door, wondering why he hadn't knocked or ring the bell.

Only after 5 minutes did Jeonghan finally regained his confidence and right before he could knock the door, Mari opened it slowly as she peeked outside. "Oh Mari...hi." Mari fully opened the door, revealing her white hoodie and black skinny jeans. Well she had a pretty looking dress, but she thought that she was going to look uncomfortable and awkward in it, so she ditched the dress and went with her usual outfit.

"Oh...we're wearing the same thing, but contrasting colours." Jeonghan pointed out and silence followed after. It got awkward, hella awkward and Mari started to become nervous again. "Y-yeah...le-lets go..." she stuttered, wanting to slap herself for stuttering.

The two ended up standing in front of the convenience store that Mari always goes to. "So here's the convenience store...the best convenience store ever." Mari introduced as she stared at the racks of food through the glass. Somehow her nervousness disappeared when she arrived at the convenience store. "Since when was there a best convenience store?" Jeonghan chuckled at Mari's remark before silence followed.

The two just stood there, having their own individual thoughts when finally, the two spoke up at the same time. "Do you mind having lunch at a convenience store?" they chorused and Mari smiled sheepishly before she entered the convenience store excitedly. Convenience store lovers usually have one thing in common. The joy of creating new recipes.

Mari quickly grabbed the ingredients to her most delicious recipe ever and so does Jeonghan. After 10 minutes, the two finally purchased what they wanted and sat at the side table. "I'll let you introduce your recipe first." Mari said, smiling at him excitedly.

"Okay firstly, you need tuna mayo triangle kimbaps, curry, sweet potato salad and cheese!" Mari gave him a small applause which made him laugh a little before he continued with his recipe. "You need to unwrap the kimbap and spread out the rice, afterwards pour the curry over the rice. Then put in your sweet potato salad before adding the seaweed which you unwrapped earlier. Last but not least, sprinkle the cheese on top of the dish and microwave!"

The guy quickly microwaved his dish and presented it to Mari. "I call this, the sweet curry baked rice!" and with that, Mari clapped once more before she introduced her dish. The two laughed alot and Mari's nervousness was already long gone. She was kind of delighted that she had someone to share her food stories with.

When Mari's recipe was done, the two shared a look and they knew what the both of them were thinking of. Jeonghan pushed his dish over to Mari, and she did the same. "Thank you for the food." the two said in unison before bursting out in laughter once more before they finally start to dig into the food.

Right into an hour of their so called 'date', they were already laughing and smiling happily. The day continued with Mari bringing Jeonghan to the playground and a nearby cafe, before heading to the neighbourhood library to borrow some books, before the two headed home. It was only one day, which they felt as though they were at their happiest.

The two returned home and Mari slouched on the sofa after a tiring day. She couldn't really deny that she liked Jeonghan, and that she would be more than happy to get to know him better with many more dates to come, but Mari warded her thoughts away. "Maybe he just wants to be friends...well that's okay too. Its good to have a close friend anyways." she sighed before getting up to wash up.

Mari slipped on an oversized t-shirt before making some hot chocolate for herself. She slid open the glass door to her balcony and smiled at the cool breeze that pushed into the apartment. Mari stepped outside and looked at the night view of Seoul which was decorated with beautiful lights that she would never get tired of.

"Mari." she heard a whisper before she turned, only to find Jeonghan standing at his balcony. His balcony is only an arm length away. Previously, Mari had always sneaked to the other balcony and walked into the house just for fun though it was empty because she was just bored. "Hey Jeonghan." Mari smiled and she was glad that she didn't stutter this time.

"Thank you for the fun day today. I really appreciated it. I'm glad that we share a common interest." he chuckled lightly. Mari raised an eyebrow at him. "And that is?"

"Our interest in inventing dishes to eat at the convenience store." it sounded ridiculous, but it was sure a common interest and that made Mari laugh. She nodded in agreement before she sipped on her hot chocolate. Mari turned back to Jeonghan who now has his phone beside his ear. She turned away, not wanting to eavesdrop on his conversation.

"Hey babe...of course I haven't forgotten our anniversary, you're my precious girlfriend, aren't you?" Mari felt all her dreams and fantasies shatter into pieces at the news that Jeonghan has a girlfriend. She subconsciously pouted and sighed as she looked at her hot chocolate, before looking back at the night lights.

On the other hand, Jeonghan was met with silence on the phone as he glanced at Mari through the corner of his eyes, making sure to emphasize on the word 'girlfriend'. His eyes lit up in delight when he saw her pout and sigh. He said a few words through the call which never existed before he slipped his phone inside his pocket, a smirk evident on his face. Jeonghan prayed to every God, hoping that his assumptions are not wrong before he finally turned to Mari.

"Mari, come here I want to tell you something."

The girl raise an eyebrow before she leaned at the side of her balcony. "What is it?" Jeonghan urged her to come a little more closer and she leaned forward more. Jeonghan flashed her a million dollar smile and sure enough, he saw her blush slightly before leaning into her ear. "Let's date." he whispered.

Mari pulled back, completely dumbfounded. "Eh?! I thought you have a girlfriend!" she exclaimed shockingly.

"I said that just to see your reaction...I don't really have a girlfriend..." Jeonghan said softly. What if Mari didn't actually like him? Damn that would be embarrassing. "Oh..." Mari mumbled as she stared into space for a moment. She wanted to reply him but her trembling came back.

Mari quickly took the drawing book on the table at her balcony before taking a marker. She quickly wrote on it before turning it towards Jeonghan. "Let's go to school together tomorrow morning, and head to a cat cafe after school, to have some coffee and get to know each other better." Jeonghan read out. A grin crept up to his face as he nodded his head excitedly. "So it's a date then!" he announced.

Mari nodded shyly as she blushed once more. Jeonghan could notice how hard she was trembling and he realized that was why she wrote her answer instead of talk it out, but he decided to a little more. "Hey I wanna tell you something else..." Jeonghan said as he signalled her to come closer again.

He leaned into her ear, only to turn his face to give a quick peck on Mari's cheek before pulling away. "Goodnight Kim Mari, don't get too flustered." Jeonghan winked before skipping back to his apartment, leaving Mari stunned there with overwhelming feelings.

"Good gracious." Mari mumbled as she placed a hand on her cheek.

The boy next door is going to change her life after all.

I hoped you guys liked it! This is my first Jeonghan one shot after all xD

P.s. I stole Mingyu's recipe for the convenience store thingy HAHAHA mingyu is a genius chef like omg

-Mi Eun