the Share house

Authors' notes

Meeting room one

— Wu Hanli meets her roommates.

Hanli tapped her foot as she waited. Naturally, she'd arrived to the designated grocery store to meet her roommates on that fine Sunday mid-morning. Ten a.m. on Sunday was definitely an okay time for her, but she'd have to be at work by six-fifteen and dearly hoped she would have time to take a nap before heading out again. Her eyes shifted towards the cashier again, who seemed to think she looked suspicious. She averted her eyes again to the ground before once again cheking over her chosen outfit- A bright pink knitted sweater over a thin purple shirt, ankle-length pants and almost-tennis shoes. They were white but had a slight heel. She thought she looked mature enough to be meeting with two new people...

After getting another strange look from a cashier, Hanli pushed herself up from her place on the wall and began to roam through the first aisle, hoping that YeJi would show up soon. The kid didn't want to be in the butcher part of the store while the others were waiting for her, it would be rude to wander off too far. At ten-fifteen exactly I'll be there. She nodded to herself in satisfaction to the new promise to herself and searched for some sort of yummy snack to buy herself. Unfortunately she could only recognize a few words here or there. I really, really hope YeJi unnie brought that friend of hers to translate. I don't know how I'm supposed to talk to the others if they don't know Mandarin.

It was a reasonable fear. Not being able to communicate with the people you have to live with? Terrifying.

Before she could worry any more, a very lovely thing caught her eye.

The bakery section.

I wonder if they have...Yes. They did have it. Hanli felt a smile break out for the first time that morning. She picked up the sponge cake with glee. Sponge cake was really one of her favorite things to make. She didn't need to be able to read Korean to know a sponge cake when she saw one. The eighteen-year-old allowed herself a small feeling of victory and nearly skipped her way to the front. Her eyes widened as the cashier lines came into view.

"Hanli~" YeJi called her name. Perfect pronunciation. With here were two girls, certainly around her own age. One had her hair perfect, down but somewhat curled and absolutely beautiful. A simple white top layered under an olive green jacket, tight jeans, and white laced wedges really completed her natural but stunning look. The other was just as amazing. Normally, the oversized jean jacket that could have swallowed her would look bad, but paired with her grey T-shirt, black jeans, and white tennis shoes, she really pulled off the style. Her hair was very unique, long and brown but with ashy highlights. Some even seemed to be a little pink. Hanli suddenly wondered if her own fashion was a bit too plain.

"That's...later...cute," Were the only words Hanli could recognize as the highlight-girl walked up towards her and grabbed her hands in excitement, "I'm Song Hyerim, it's nice to meet you!"

Finally, a full phrase she knew.

"I am Wu Hanli, pleased to meet you," Hanli nearly made a face at how slow and deliberate her words sounded. It took a considerable amount of effort to make sure she was pronouncing her sentence correctly, but this didn't seem to deter Hyerim (?) at all. She checked her phone to see the time. Ten-o-eight, all four of them had come a bit early...

She was less than ready for this.