“Did you get the bat?”

“No.”

“We’re playing baseball, c’mon now.”

“You can go get a baseball bat from your neighbor.”

“Oh yeah! You’re so smart.”

Taeyeon pours her peppermint tea into a porcelain mug. Humming another Christmas melody, she sits on her drawers, watching the winter sun turn into pinks and purples. The palm trees sway as she sips on tea that is too hot for California weather. Sounds of recklessness and childish laughter can be heard from the outside world, but as she sips, she continues to hum, her apartment reflects the sunset and hues of colors warm her apartment. Quietly, a door opens, and her whimsical eyes look towards the figure with a darkened expression.

“You’re hitting the baseball, right?”

“Yes.”

“Yay!”

“How did it go?” she whispers into the silence. The heat burns her tongue. The man shakes his head, a scoff disappearing into the air as he tries to translate his own thoughts into speech.

“It’s a hopeless cause. There’s no way we can reconcile this without some kind of World War Three happening. Jinki may be a nice guy on the surface level but a passive aggressive below it all.”

Taeyeon sips from her mug as Kibum starts to find his spot on her white couch. He lies down in exhaustion.

Jinki was someone he wanted to get so close to. He wanted to know Jinki’s world, but he was pressured into commitment, into him, into his everything, and when Kibum craved for his care, Jinki would disappear. Kibum turned to other people, other things, other vices, and when he finished, he realized the errors of his ways. But Jinki, Jinki reminded him once again why love didn’t work without repair.

Kibum would never understand why Jinki made another person cry for so long and continued the cycle. He’ll never know why he called that love. Kibum won’t know and doesn’t want to know anymore. Jinki isn’t his. Destiny never wanted the two together. He stares blankly at the texts that used to be theirs and deletes them. This is tiring, he thinks to himself.

“What’s the point anymore? I mean, you two aren’t a thing anymore. There’s no need to continue the conversation. You could always cut him off. At least you know better.”

Kibum sighs. The words she utters leaves a lasting impression in his mind, and he jolts up. His eyes widens as he understands the words she replies with. There’s a small smirk that appears on his face as she continues to look at him from where she sits. The stress took over Kibum, but with every breath he exhales is another sigh of relief, and as she watches, she can’t help but smile. Healing is a process and being a part of Kibum’s healing is too sweet for words.

“You know, you’re the ing best, Taeyeon,” he states while gazing in her direction.  Her dark hair has been dyed so many times, but even when she dyes it back to brown, she looks more and more like a fairy. It’s like she never aged. It’s only been evident in the words she speaks, the details she remembers, her age only creeps in her speech. They sit in silence for a while. She smiles before gesturing him to sit next to her, and his lithe body languidly finds his spot next to her. Gazing at nothing and everything, they enjoy the moment. Orange starts to paint the sky. They wait for sunset to turn into darkness.

“Fore!”

The sound of glass breaking breaks their reverie. A ball comes crashing into her apartment, glass is broken everywhere. Both of their eyes widen in confusion. While Kibum’s face contorts into anger, Taeyeon rushes towards the window itself and sees standing at the bottom of the apartments are two figures, smiling. One looks at the other with glee, bouncing up and down, her voice is too quiet to be heard, but she’s sure that this girl looks proud of herself. One of them holds the baseball bat at his side and he seems to be enjoying the monologue that the other girl is sprouting. It’s not long before Kibum pushes Taeyeon out of the way to yell at the two imbeciles.

“Are you two ing insane?! Why the hell would you idiots be batting at this damn apartment!? I will bat your ing asses to the police if that’s how it is!” Kibum yells at the two of them. They turn to face Kibum and their smiles still stay on their faces. Kibum gets angrier. “What the are you smiling about?! Do you know I could put you two into a prison!?” He’s boiling mad at this point and Taeyeon continues to watch from the sideline. While she’s just as confused as before, she knows better than to get angry at two kids who just seem to be having harmless fun. But what’s more interesting is the fact that the shorter figure stops jumping around when he continues his rant. The smile disappears on their lips and they look towards the taller figure.

The taller figure is the first to say something when Kibum finishes his fuming sentences. “I’m sorry sir. We were trying to aim for our friend’s apartment. He lives in this apartment building and we ing hate him right now because he wrecked my car,” he explains, but Kibum is not having any of it.

“There’s still no ing need to be celebrating when you hit an apartment window though! What if it was someone else?! What kind of petty revenge is this!?”

“It’s petty, but you yelling at us is also petty,” he calmly replies. Taeyeon snorts. The man starts to open his mouth, but it’s what the shorter figure replies with that makes Taeyeon’s eyes widely.

“C’est la vie,” she hums. Those are words that Taeyeon hasn’t heard in ages. They are words that Taeyeon hears in the middle of the night, and it is hauntingly beautiful when she hears such words. A girl who looks no older than twenty-one says the same words with nonchalance and sweetness. Before Kibum can curse any more profanities, Taeyeon mouths the word stop to him and makes her way to the window. The man grumbles before taking a spot on the drawers.

Her dark eyes look down on the two and when she sees the shorter figure look up to her, there’s an instant connection. Taeyeon smiles softly at the girl while the girl smiles back at her.

“Please ignore my friend. He’s temperamental. Would you like to come up and have some tea with us?”

Kibum burns and he starts to say something, but Taeyeon shushes him. There are rare moments when Taeyeon overpowers her almost “roommate” and this is one of those few moments. Her look sends chills down his spine, and Kibum knows better than to anger someone like her. The two kids stare back at the two of them and the girl smiles real big for Taeyeon to see and yells an okay. It’s not too long before Taeyeon heads down to see a tall boy and a girl with light brown haired girl having an animated conversation outside the apartment building. She coughs before the two face her and the girl lights up when she sees her.

“Hi, I’m Wheein,” she introduces while the male smiles in her direction and in shyness, tries to hide behind Wheein. Hiding behind a short girl is a challenge, the male figures out. Taeyeon gives a smile. “That’s Wonwoo,” she introduces for him.

“Taeyeon. You’ll meet Kibum soon.”

She watches as Wonwoo nods his head while Wheein claps her hands together in fear of some kind. She wonders if there is something about Wheein that seems to similar to her. Her smile that seems so beautiful from afar, but it looks so remorseful up close. Her eyes betray her lips and many would not understand that beautiful girls are usually too complex to fall infatuated with.

“The guy is something else.”

When Wonwoo decides to speak with Taeyeon, it’s rough. It’s laced with stammering and stumbling. Whatever language he knows seems to be screwed up with fillers and confused with other words. He’s not perfect at speaking, but Wheein smiles as he speaks and she’s happier when they exchange some kind of conversation.

“That’s just how he is. Loud, blunt, and easily angered.”

“It’s something that he should just work on.”

His tongue ties. The small smile on his face disappears and as the three start their trek towards her apartment, Taeyeon continues the conversation while Wonwoo starts to speak. It’s an uncomfortable kind of conversation. His words are laced with mistakes and scribbles that are mumbled throughout the conversation. His words are like sandpaper, rough around the edges but tend to smooth people over. And when Taeyeon opens the door to her apartment, Kibum sits on the drawer, staring straight at them, shooting flames. Wonwoo stands to the side while Wheein crosses her arms and glares back at him.

“Who do you think you are, little girl?” Kibum instigates. Before Taeyeon can stop the two from doing anything, Wheein bows and apologizes. Kibum stares in shock as Wheein does something of this sort.

“I’m sorry we hit a baseball into your friend’s apartment. We made the mistake to hit a baseball and it wasn’t supposed to be towards you. I apologize. I’m sure we can find some kind of resolution to fix this,” she calmly states. It’s easy to throw away pride. It’s easier not to care if there’s hatred simmering in someone’s voice and misery in someone else’s voice.

The brunette is forced to watch Kibum’s face contort into so many different things. It’s not everyday that someone confesses so easily, but it’s Wonwoo who answers the fight when it starts. It’s not Wheein who only whispers her words, but it’s Wonwoo, who is untalented when it comes to conversation and yet he harshly replies to the anger in his throat. But Kibum doesn’t seem to have calmed down from the things before.

“I accept your apology.”

Wheein looks up while Wonwoo winces at what Kibum says. There’s a strange sense of hierarchy in his words. Wonwoo is about to say words, but Wheein just smiles and claps her hands together. It’s as though even the sickeningly high courtesy had to be ignored. A sense of privilege in accepting the apology is just always evident. But Wonwoo decides against it, and Wheein is starting to bubble over about tea and raving about Taeyeon’s view. Passive income and working too hard includes a wonderful view.

“So what’s this about your friend?” Taeyeon asks. Wheein rolls her eyes and Wonwoo looks from Wheein to Taeyeon. It’s as though it’s a secret and Wonwoo needs permission to talk about it all. He opens his mouth but then quietly closes it again. He tries to figure out what he’s supposed to say, but Wheein beats him to it.

“Our friend Mingyu was supposed to lend us his car after we beat him in a race, but he didn’t and ended up wrecking our car because he’s a sore loser,” Wheein states. Wonwoo nods his head and sips on his peppermint tea. His fingers grip onto the handle too hard. The heat from the liquid reaches his palms. It doesn’t burn, it doesn’t hurt, he just continues to listen and drink as Wheein tries to recall the story.

“Why do you need a car?”

“There’s snow in Olympia,” Wheein replies simply and she sips on her tea. Kibum and Taeyeon stare at the two in disbelief. Kibum doesn’t miss the beat though. There is nothing to miss.

“You’re going to drive for more than ten hours to see if there’s snow?” Kibum asks, flabbergasted. Wheein nods and shrugs her shoulders. “What about Portland?” he continues to ask.

“I have a friend who lives in Olympia and I like her place better,” she continues. Wonwoo slides onto the couch while Wheein tries to entertain her audience. Her face lights up at the thought that they would even listen. It’s a rare thing. People who will listen to her story, they don’t seem to exist and she only feels comfortable around Wonwoo. She continues to tell her tale and Wonwoo continues to indulge in the story. His eyes focus on the outside world. He listens to Wheein’s melodies and thinks to himself that this could mean something more.

“C’est la vie, right, Wonwoo?” she asks as she spins her stool to stare at Wonwoo’s dreamy look. The world looks brighter if he explores it. The millisecond moment of silence gives him peace.

“Right.”

This meeting would be worthwhile.