To say that Sana is annoyed would be an understatement. She’s beyond frustrated. Last week, her roommates (Nayeon, Jihyo, and Mina) told Sana that she has way too much stuff. Well, they liked to call it junk. They wanted Sana to throw out some items. The “junk” was taking up too much space in their apartment; there was barely enough space to even walk around.

Of course, Sana refused to throw out her stuff; she claimed that they were all useful. Sana was almost brought to tears when her roommates threatened to throw it out for her. Eventually, Nayeon, Jihyo, and Mina felt bad for Sana and asked her to at least move her “least useful items” into a storage unit. Coincidentally, there was a storage system that wasn’t far from their apartment.

Sana initially refused to do this, but relented in the end when her three friends got down on their knees. So that’s what happened last week. Sana moved a bunch of her stuff to a storage unit. She made sure to pester the workers there about the supposedly guaranteed safety of her items. She would have their heads if she lost even a toothpick.

Now here’s the reason that Sana is annoyed right now: for the past week, she’s been in agony because of her desire to retrieve some items from her storage unit. Her roommates continued to tell her that she could get them if she wants to, but only if it’s absolutely necessary. They didn’t want her going there just to retrieve her “nearly-empty bottle of lemon-scented body mist that she just wants to look at”.

Today she just could not sit still. She realized in the morning that she absolutely needed something that was in her storage unit.

She wanted her shiba inu stuffed animal.

“Sana, don’t waste your time going there just to get some dumb stuffed animal.” Nayeon rolled her eyes.

“It’s not dumb!” Sana defended it, crossing her arms in anger.

Jihyo snorted before scolding Sana herself, “Why do you need it?”

“I want to snuggle with it at night,” Sana replied as if it was obvious. Honestly, Nayeon, Jihyo, and Mina should’ve expected this response from her.

“Sana, you don’t need to snuggle with it at night, you sleep just fine,” Mina retaliated.

“That’s what you think! I’ve been forced to hug my dirty pillows for the past week!” Sana exclaimed, throwing her hands up into the air. Everyone else raised their eyebrows.

“Why don’t you just wash them?” Nayeon asked, exasperated.

“I don’t have time to!”

“But you have time to walk three blocks to your storage unit?” Jihyo quickly rebutted.

Sana pouted. “This is different!! My shiba inu has a face.”

“...What?” Mina blinked.

“It’s nicer to wake up looking at a face than a drool-infested pillow!” Sana didn’t understand why her friends were arguing with her about her sweet, sweet plushie.

Jihyo sighed as she got ready to scold Sana again, “Sana-”

“I won’t go get it if one of you guys let me snuggle with you at night!” Sana chirped, looking at them with pleading eyes.

Nayeon, Jihyo, and Mina sat there quietly. They then looked at each other and nodded, all having the same thought.

Ain’t nobody got time for that.

“Yeah, just go get your stupid chihuahua toy,” Jihyo said for the three of them. Nobody wants to handle a clingy Sana in the day, so they definitely can’t handle her at night.

“It’s a shiba inu stuffed animal!” Sana screeched, jumping in frustration. The others covered their ears from the ear-piercing shriek. “And why don’t any of you want to sleep next to me?!”

“Sana, remember that slumber party we had three months ago?” Mina asked slowly. Sana sighed and looked down.

“Yes.”

“You kicked all of us off of the bed! We pushed three king-sized beds together and we all slept in the middle! How did you manage to kick all of us off of it?!” Nayeon huffed. She would never forget that day. She woke up with her flashlight shoved right up her-

“I need room for my legs!” Sana whined.

“Whatever, just go get your golden retriever statue.” Jihyo waved her off, returning to her book.

“It’s not a golden retriever statue! It’s a-”

“Go!” the three annoyed roommates screamed at her.

“Okay, geez.” Sana grabbed her purse before leaving the apartment and skipping down the street. She hummed happily at the thought of reuniting with her shiba inu stuffed animal.

By the time she stopped humming to herself, she found herself in front of the storage unit buildings. She walked past the gate and greeted the security guard that worked there.

“Hi Jeongyeon!”

Jeongyeon’s eye twitched when she heard Sana’s voice. She’s never going to forget how Sana almost beat her up when she was told that there has been some theft before in their storage units. Jeongyeon had to sit through Sana’s two hour speech of “how she’s going to sue her and ruin her life if she doesn’t guard her stuff”.

“H-Hi.”

“Just going to get my stuff!” Sana stated happily.

“I know, Nayeon called me and told me to expect you… and what do you mean ‘stuff’? Nayeon told me you were getting one thing.” Jeongyeon raised an eyebrow.

“I might need to get more than one thing…” Sana twiddled her thumbs.

Jeongyeon shook her head. “No, Nayeon told me to make sure you bring back one item only.”

“Nayeon keeps a bunch of junk in our apartment too!” Sana whined. “She’s has no right to do this to me!”

“She’s not the one with a butter-churning machine and an unlimited supply of duct tape!” Jeongyeon replied with a glare.

“I might need those one day!”

Jeongyeon just sighed before gesturing Sana to go. “Just go to your damn storage unit.”

“Okay~” Sana skipped down the long line of buildings before finally reaching her own storage unit. She took out her key and opened up her unit. Right after she did, she was greeted with a truly peculiar sight.

Some random girl was sitting on her box of stuff, eating her jellies, and reading some of her magazines.

The girl looked up and smiled widely. She held up her little jar of jellies.

“Want some?”

“Who the hell are you?!” Sana shrieked, pointing a not-so-menacing finger at her intruder. “And those are my jellies!”

“I’m Tzuyu.” Tzuyu waved from her spot on Sana’s boxes.

“Why are you-”

“You didn’t tell me your name,” Tzuyu interrupted. “That’s rude.”

“Sana,” Sana growled.

“Am I supposed to say it that angrily too?” Tzuyu put on her best angry face and growled out, “Sana.”

Sana facepalmed. When she looked back up, she saw Tzuyu continue to eat her jellies. “Stop eating my jellies!”

“Speaking of jellies, why did you keep so much food in your boxes? They all would’ve expired eventually. Don’t worry, I’m doing you a favor by slowly eating them for you. I’m eating the ones that are going to expire soon, of course,” Tzuyu said reassuringly.

Except, Sana didn't feel reassured at all.

“What are you doing in my storage unit?!” Sana crossed her arms.

“You didn’t lock the entrance. So I went inside and locked it for you.” Tzuyu shrugged.

“What? Do you even work here?” Sana raised an eyebrow.

“Nope.” Tzuyu smacked her lips. “I don’t work anywhere, actually. I’m homeless.”

“Oh.” Well now Sana felt a little bad.

“Don’t give me that look, I hate pity.” Tzuyu rolled her eyes before smiling at Sana. “I’m a strong independent woman who lives off of other people’s things.”

“Then you’re not really independent-”

“Independent is a very loose word.”

“No it’s not-”

“Anyways~ Did you need something?” Tzuyu asked brightly, jumping off the boxes she was sitting on.

“I-I came to get my shiba inu stuffed animal…” Sana didn’t know why she decided to continue having a conversation with this strange girl instead of calling for security.

“Ahh.” Tzuyu nodded understandingly. She walked towards a specific box and opened it. She pulled out the shiba inu stuffed animal and walked towards Sana, handing it to her.

“You know exactly where I keep all my stuff?” Sana asked with wide eyes, taking her beloved shiba inu from Tzuyu.

“Yeah, I have a lot of time on my hands, as you can see.” Tzuyu gestured around the storage unit for emphasis.

“Uh…”

“Also,” Tzuyu smirked. “You have some nice . Why did you store them here? Fancy stuff like that should be used regularly.”

Sana’s face flushed red when Tzuyu winked at her. “That’s an invasion of privacy!”

“Well, I had nothing else to do, so…” Tzuyu shrugged as she walked back to the opened box and closed it, dusting off the top.

“You can’t stay here!” Sana argued, clutching her shiba inu.

“Why?” Tzuyu whined.

“Well, you… I-It can’t possibly be comfortable in here!” Sana exclaimed.

“I beg to differ.” Tzuyu pointed at the corner of the storage unit. Sana looked and her eyes widened.

Tzuyu had taken out a bunch of her extra blankets, towels, and pillows and created a pretty nice looking fort.

“What the-”

“I made it myself... impressive, right?” Tzuyu smiled as she looked at her creation.

“Yes, it does look rather nice-” Sana shook her head. “I mean, you should leave, find a different place to live.”

Tzuyu looked down with a sigh. She kicked the floor and pouted. “Okay, I’ll just go back under that bridge or something.”

“What?” Sana asked in disbelief.

“Your storage unit is the first indoor place I’ve slept in since I’ve become homeless,” Tzuyu explained.

“How did you become homeless?”

“I got fired from my job recently and couldn’t pay for rent anymore,” Tzuyu replied sadly. “I got evicted. I tried to find other jobs, but I’m not very qualified. My old boss apparently spread rumors around that I’m a horrible employee.”

“What did you do to get fired?”

“He claims it’s because I’m lazy, but I know it’s because I refused to go on a date with him,” Tzuyu sighed.

Sana felt bad for her. “Why didn’t you tell your other coworkers and try to save your job?”

“I did, but no one believed me.” A frown appeared on Tzuyu’s face as she reminisced the past. “I’m homeless now because of all that.”

“How about your family-”

“I ran away from home.” Tzuyu closed her eyes for a few seconds before opening them again and looking directly at Sana. “They wanted me to be their business slave and forced me to associate myself with all these fake friends and boyfriends…. They didn’t care about my happiness. I couldn’t take it anymore.”

“You don’t want to go back?” Sana’s heart hurt for Tzuyu. She couldn’t imagine having parents that didn’t care about her well-being.

“Honestly? I rather stay homeless for the rest of my life than go back home.”

“Oh.” Sana slowly nodded. She then closed her own eyes for a bit.

She couldn’t believe what she was going to say.

“You… You can stay here… I guess,” Sana whispered as quietly as possible.

Tzuyu heard it loud and clear.

“Really?!” Tzuyu bounced up and down. “Thank you so much!” Tzuyu ran to Sana and hugged her tightly. She lifted Sana up and spun her around in joy.

“Y-You’re welcome,” Sana replied with a pink face. After Tzuyu put her back down, Sana coughed awkwardly. “I’m sorry I can’t offer you my place. I have roommates and we barely have enough room for ourselves.”

Tzuyu shook her head immediately. “Don’t worry about it, I find this storage unit very comfortable! I get to design it the way I want to and I have it all to myself!”

“Right…” Sana didn’t know what else to say. “Wait a minute, how are you going to… cleanse yourself? How do you go to the restroom?”

“Oh, I sneak past that cranky old guard with the short hair and use the employee lounge’s bathrooms. I also may or may not have stolen your soap, shampoo, toothbrush, and toothpaste. You can probably sustain a whole family of five with the amount of stuff you have here.” Tzuyu said proudly. She’s glad she took refuge in a hoarder’s storage unit.

“I see… I guess that’s fine.” Sana would rather have Tzuyu steal her stuff and be clean than dirty and disgusting.

Tzuyu continued to stand close to Sana, smiling happily at her. Sana looked away every now and then; Tzuyu’s gaze made her slightly uncomfortable.

“I think I’m going to go now; my friends are probably wondering where I am... I-I’ll visit you again soon,” Sana said softly, pointing towards the exit.

“Alright, see you!” Tzuyu smiled and waved. “Can you bring me back some milk next time? You have an unopened box of cereal here.”

“Sure,” Sana giggled. “Bye.”

“Wait!”

Sana turned around, confused.

“You dropped this when I hugged you.” Tzuyu handed Sana her stuffed animal. Sana smiled gratefully and took it from her.

“Thanks.”

“No, thank you.” Tzuyu smiled brightly. Sana felt her own smile creeping onto her face; she could hear the genuine gratefulness in Tzuyu’s voice. She didn’t want to admit it, but this strange woman is cute.

Sana left her storage unit and closed it back up. She sighed heavily as she walked back to the entrance. She still couldn’t believe she trusted this stranger with all her valuable stuff (junk). She shrugged it off. Since Tzuyu hasn’t damaged anything so far, she’ll probably be a good sport and not ruin her stuff.

“Except my food,” Sana sighed. “She devoured my food…”

Sana walked back to the entrance of the storage unit site. She held her shiba inu high and proud as she passed Jeongyeon. Jeongyeon shook her head as the bubbly girl walked passed the gate.

“Wait.” Jeongyeon stopped her.

Sana froze.

“Dahyun was surveilling the area and said that she heard sounds coming from your storage unit. Were you talking to someone?” Jeongyeon asked.

“No!” Sana immediately answered. She knew that Jeongyeon would probably kick Tzuyu out if she knew she was staying in her storage unit.

“Then what? You were talking to yourself?” Jeongyeon raised her eyebrows.

“Y-Yes! You know how I am!” Sana laughed unconvincingly, “a little crazy in the head, seeing ghosts, hearing voices, you know!”

Jeongyeon thought something was weird, but she decided to let it go.

“Alright, just go.”

“Bye!” Sana dashed away.

After Sana reached her apartment again. Nayeon, Jihyo, and Mina were all at the door with their arms crossed.

“I swear if you took that long because you brought back more-” Jihyo paused. “Oh, you only brought back your pomeranian pillow, good job!”

Sana could feel her frustration bubble up again. “I’ve told you a million times that it’s a-”

“Yeah, yeah.” Nayeon pulled Sana in.” What took you so long?”

“I made a friend, I think?” Sana automatically answered. Her eyes widened when she realized what she said.

“Who?” Mina asked in curiousity.

“Uh… Jeongyeon,” Sana replied.

“But you already knew her,” Nayeon butted it.

“I mean…” Sana held up her shiba inu. “This! I made friends with this!”

They all stared at the stuffed animal; then they looked back at Sana… and then back at the stuffed animal.

“You’re weird,” Jihyo snorted, walking away. The others chuckled and started walking back to their own rooms as well. Sana sighed in relief.

“They would never let me live it down if they knew I had some weird,cute girl staying in my storage unit. They’ll probably think I kidnapped her.”

“What was that?” Mina turned around.

“Nothing!” Sana ran into her room. The other three stared at each other before shrugging.

“She’s weird. Who’s idea was it to invite her to be our roommate?” Jihyo groaned.

______________________________________________________________________

 

For the next few weeks, Sana frequently visited her storage unit without telling the others, she always snuck past Jeongyeon at the gate. It was very difficult since there was so much security around the storage units. She always had to throw a rock or something to distract Jeongyeon and the other guards.

Sana always brought random goodies to give Tzuyu. She brought her books, a little radio, more food and snacks, more items for her to use to cleanse herself, and milk. Tzuyu always asks her to bring milk.

The two have actually become really good friends. They always have a lot to talk about. They shared their past with each other, though it was a bit painful for Tzuyu. Sana never judged her; she even promised herself that she would continue to support Tzuyu and help her get back up on her feet.

Sana huffed as she carried her carton of milk. “I don’t know why she keeps asking for this; she already finished her cereal…. She’s already pretty tall too.”

Sana snuck past Jeongyeon again and quietly entered her storage unit.

“Hey, you’re back!” Tzuyu smiled. She jumped off her little couch, which in reality a bunch of blankets shoved together in the form of a couch…. Sana had a lot of stuff.

“Yup.” Sana placed the carton of milk on Tzuyu’s makeshift table (a bunch of boxes and a large piece of wood on top).

Sana sighed as she saw Tzuyu in her clothes again.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to buy you clothes?” Sana asked, crossing her arms.

“Yeah, I’m fine! All the clothes you brought here were clothes that were a little too big for you! They’re perfect for me!” Tzuyu lifted her arms, showing off her nicely-fitted clothes.

“But they’re still mine,” Sana muttered. Tzuyu just smiled silently, pretending she didn’t hear that.

“Tzuyu…” Sana started off.

“Yeah?”

“Do you plan to find another job soon?” Sana asked hesitantly. She didn’t want to upset Tzuyu, but she shouldn’t live here forever.

Tzuyu looked down a bit before putting on a little smile. “Sick of me already, huh?”

“No!” Sana shook her head furiously. “I’m.. I’m worried about you. The thought of you living here forever is… sad.”

“I know I can’t live here forever,” Tzuyu replied quietly. “Honestly… I’m kind of not job hunting for a reason.”

“What’s the reason?”

“You,” Tzuyu whispered.

Sana strained her ears. “What? Can you repeat that?”

Tzuyu groaned. “I like your frequent visits. You’re a fun person to be around. You give me stuff, you listen to me, you're super nice, and… you’re gorgeous.”

Sana swayed her body side to side as she listened to the compliments. Believe it or not, not many people have complimented her in the past. Most people say that she’s messy and clumsy.

This was a nice change.

“You really think so?” Sana asked shyly.

Tzuyu smirked and walked close to Sana. Sana stopped breathing when Tzuyu used her finger to brush a bit of Sana’s hair behind her ear.

“I know so.”

“Thanks.” Sana beamed at Tzuyu.

Tzuyu pulled Sana in for a warm hug. “I really appreciate everything you’ve done for me… Should I pack up my stuff? Or what’s left of it, anyway.”

“What? Why?” Sana pulled back, looking at Tzuyu in confusion.

“I assume you don’t want me loitering around here for the sole purpose of seeing you every few days…”

Sana shyly kicked her feet. “Well, that isn’t too bad… Y-You can’t live here forever, but I wouldn’t mind you staying here a little while longer.”

Tzuyu chuckled. “I’ll start job hunting tomorrow. I’ll just have to sneak in and out of here every day. I’ll leave once I make enough money to rent an apartment.”

Sana nodded in agreement, but she couldn’t help but feel a little sad.

“Why the long face?” Tzuyu frowned.

“I’m going to miss you,” Sana admitted with a red face. “We’ve become such good friends. I like being around you... you always tell me fun stories. I like loitering here with you.”

“We could always keep in touch.” Tzuyu smiled. “I’ll sign up for a phone plan when I get enough money.”

“I guess, but I feel like we wouldn’t see each other much. You’d probably be working a lot and I have my own responsibilities to take care of,” Sana sighed.

“Hmm…” Tzuyu tapped her chin with her finger. “I’m going to throw out a wild suggestion, feel free to refuse me if you’d like.”

“W-What is it?” Sana almost knew what Tzuyu was going to ask her.

“After I make enough money, do you want to be roommates with me?” Tzuyu suggested. “I promise I won’t be like your other three roommates you always tell me about. I won’t make fun of your shiba inu.”

“You’ll snuggle with me at night if I ask you to?” Sana looked at Tzuyu with hopeful eyes.

“I’ll snuggle with you at night if you ask me to… I’ll probably also do it when you don’t ask me to,” Tzuyu chuckled. She wheezed when Sana threw her arms around her and squeezed.

“Then I would love to be your roommate one day!” Sana answered with another squeeze.

“Okay… Cool.” Tzuyu coughed, trying to get some air out.

“Do you want to sneak out and get some ice cream-”

Sana was cut off by her cell phone ringing.

“Hello?”

“Sana! Where are you?”

“Jeongyeon?” Sana asked nervously. Tzuyu’s eyes widened. Sana put a finger to her lips before putting her cell phone on speaker.

“Yeah, Nayeon called me and ask me if you were here. I told her you weren’t and she told me to call you.”

“Why didn’t she just call me herself?”

“I asked her the same thing!” Jeongyeon groaned. “She said something about not wanting to waste her cell phone’s minutes on you.”

“That little-”

“Anyways, you should head home, it’s getting late. The others are apparently worried about you,” Jeongyeon interrupted. She didn’t want to hear Sana insult Nayeon.

“Okay, tell her I’ll be home soon.”

“Why don’t you tell her?” Jeongyeon groaned once more.

“I don’t want to waste my cell phone’s minutes on her.”

“What? You-”

“Bye!” Sana hung up. Tzuyu giggled and gave Sana a high five.

“I guess you should go.” Tzuyu walked to her little makeshift desk and picked up something. She returned to Sana with an origami rose.

“Aww~ Thank you! How did you learn to make this?” Sana squealed as she accepted the paper rose.

Tzuyu held up a book about origami. “I have a lot of time on my hands.”

“Huh.” Sana looked at the book in amusement. “I don’t remember buying that book.”

“You’d be surprised with what you can find in here,” Tzuyu chuckled, walking Sana to the storage unit’s exit.

“I don’t think anything here is going to top the shock I had when I found you in here,” Sana replied with a light laugh.

“Yeah, you’re probably right.” Tzuyu tilted her head a bit and planted a soft kiss on Sana’s hamster-like cheek. “Thanks again, for everything.”

“Y-You’re very welcome,” Sana stuttered, cupping the spot Tzuyu just kissed. Tzuyu laughed and gently pushed Sana towards the exit.

“You should go, your friends are probably worried sick,” Tzuyu said.

“Are you going to be worried about me when we’re roommates?” Sana turned around and waited for Tzuyu’s answer.

“I’m always going to be worried about you when you’re not around me. Heck, I would start a search party if you’re gone for more than 10 minutes.”

Sana was very satisfied with that answer.

Tzuyu waved Sana goodbye as she walked out of the storage unit. Sana began rolling down the door. When it was almost closed, she heard Tzuyu speak.

“Sana?”

Sana blinked.

“Yes?”

“Can you buy me some more milk?”

Sana rolled her eyes.

“Sure, you tall freak.”

“You-”

Sana shut the door before Tzuyu had the chance to complain about the little insult she received.

“My weird, tall, soon-to-be-roommate freak.” As much as Sana loved her friends, living with someone that actually respected her items would be a nice change.

Also, Tzuyu would actually let Sana snuggle with her.

That’s a nice bonus.