CHAPTER ONE
FOODSTAGRAM! ◦ APPLY OPEN!
chapter one!
"where did you want me to move these boxes, seul?" the older man asks his daughter as he shifts his attention to her who was closing the apartment door.
"uh, you can just leave it with the other boxes, dad," she replies and notes how many boxes were piling up near a window.
"oh gosh, daehwan, can you believe it?" her mother pulls her daughter into a tight hug, "our baby, all grown up! she's now a freshman in college and now she's living on her own!"
her father tiredly looks at the two females while reminding his wife, "yes, sweetheart, but seulhui is officially going to be a freshman in college in two weeks."
his wife rolls her eyes while letting go of her daughter, "she's still, technically, a freshman either way."
"so why did you decide to move out of the campus dorms?" her father asks his daughter while ignoring his wife's comment. he remembers how seulhui just rushed home the day after moving some of her things to the college dorms, and asked if she could move into an apartment instead.
seulhui sheepishly looks at the two while rubbing her neck, "uh, well why not..? do we have to talk about that?"
just tell them you didn't want to be paired with some stranger. your friends left you anyways. she stood awkwardly in silence, playing with her thumbs.
"come on, seul, we're your parents. we want to know what's going on." her mother implores her, wanting to know if something happened to her one and only daughter.
a sigh escapes out of her father's mouth, "what's going on? did something happen? you came home the next day, then you asked if you can move into an apartment while showing us all the available homes with a good price.”
seulhui laughs at the shortened explanation of events that led to the current situation.
"well, you know how i am with my friends..." seulhui trails off and her parents' faces darkened.
"you're still friends with those no-good girls that make you feel like you're not included?" her mother's disappointment coats her voice.
"now, yeonhui, i'm sure that seul has a reason." her dad comforts her mother with an arm around her shoulder. he looks at seulhui with furrowed brows, "you do have a reason right?"
"...i guess i do?" seulhui looks around her bare living room. she didn't feel like talking about her so-called friends while standing.
after seeing his daughter's conflicting face, her father looks at his watch, "let's go out to eat, yeah? it's around lunchtime now."
the two females beam at his idea. seulhui ran to the door opening it as her parents trails behind her, "after you, madam and sir."
"oh dear, look at that. she's buttering up to us so we'll pay for her." the older female laughs as she intertwines her fingers with her partner's.
seulhui locks the door and notices her parents' affection, "wow, aren't you guys cute?"
her parents only laugh in response, with a dash of bashfulness.
"ahh," her mother remembers that her daughter was way too invested into these boyfriend games, "it's all right. anyways, what should we eat?"
"italian?"
"ooh," seulhui sang, "yes, please."
walking in the italian-looking restaurant the three sat at a table and ordered.
"so your friend situation?" her father went straight to the bat after the waiter took their order.
seulhui bit her straw, "never missing a beat to ask, huh, dad?"
"we're just worried."
"well, i've never felt close to any of them. i feel like they only ask me out whenever they talk about plans and i'm just in the room. that's why i never went out in high school except if it was a birthday type of situation." seulhui admits as she plays with the straw.
"...you rarely went out back then..." her mother whispers as she remembers how rare her daughter would leave the house for fun.
"sometimes i feel included with them—but then it's just been piling up. i was going to give them another chance this year but they all dormed with each other. they didn't even bother asking me if i wanted to dorm with them."
her father raises an eyebrow as he saw that she was obviously indifferent to them.
"it just feels like i care too much for this friendship when they're not doing anything that makes me think that they're great friends."
"how much effort have you put into them?" her mother asks with a grim expression.
"a lot in the beginning... but now i just don't care. i'm just there."
"how much do they know about you?"
"shallow things."
"nothing deep?" her father asks, "like they don't know about your food blogging hobby and your boyfriend games?"
"oh, dad, they know how much i love anime, boyfriend games, and food blogging." she remembers the comments that were made by the girls, "but... they just don't respect it. i'm not saying that they have to love every single thing that i have an interest in! i mean, i respect their hobbies and interests, so they should return the favor and respect what i like..?"
"that's true, sweetheart, they have to respect it. i'm sure you didn't force them to try what you like either." her mother holds her daughter's hand.
shortly their order arrived—the three ended the topic of seulhui's friends and decided to focus on the food that was in front of them.
her mother and father waited, eyed their daughter weirdly as she was reaching over to grab a fork. the male raised an eyebrow.
"time to eat." she sang happily and was about to poke her pasta with the fork.
"wait." he warns.
"what? can't i eat?" she asks.
"you're missing something."
seulhui eyes her food then looks back at to her father, confused.
"what?"
rolling his eyes, he takes out his phone and points to it, "you're not going to take a photo of your food for your instagram account?"
seulhui claps her hands together, "you're right."
it appears that the youngest was in a better mood and the two in front of her became satisfied. they watched her take photos of her plate of pasta, patiently.
"mom, dad?" she suddenly asks which snaps her parents' attention.
"yes, dear?"
"...uh... can i take a picture of your food?" she shyly asks.
"go ahead." the two allowed her to take photos of the dishes. it seems like she was in a better mood so things must be a bit better, right?
after taking three photos of their food they started to eat. the two females were chatting amongst themselves while the male remained in his thoughts.
"seul?" he collected his thoughts.
"yeah?" she looks at him, wondering what he's going to say.
"why don't you just find people who are food bloggers too? that way you can be friends with them—you guys already have something in common already too, so it should be somewhat easy." he broaches the idea of finding new friends who have a common interest as his daughter.
seulhui would be lying if she said that it was a lame idea. it's a smart idea and it warms her that her father was thinking of a way for her to find new friends.
"you're right. but i dunno dad, i feel like it'll be awkward for me."
"seul, i know how you feel—making new friends is intimidating in a way. but your friends right now are making you feel excluded and lonely. i if you have new friends." he explains thoroughly.
"all right," she admits defeat.
"maybe you can find a roommate too. your apartment has two bedrooms." her mother suggests.
"...is it bad for me to admit that i kinda want the apartment to myself?"
"no roommate?"
"no... i mean it's logical that i should have a roommate if there's another room. but i wanna use that room for like—sleepovers or something with my friends. like they can just crash to my place anytime."
her mother only smiles at her seulhui's idea.
"all right, we have no problem with that." her father nods knowingly at what his daughter wanted, "...just... no boys."
her mother laughs, "aw, are you scared that she might be living with her boyfriend?"
"...i'm just not ready for her that day to happen."
"don't worry dad, the only thing that has my heart right now are the ones on my phone."
"i'm not sure if that's a good thing or not."
seulhui returned to her apartment shortly after finishing her lunch date with her parents. after she returned home she went to unpack the necessities. she was able to set up her bed, her desk, and the essential items that she would need for the kitchen and bathroom.
she was thankful that she was able to unpack so many boxes. she didn't have any distractions (friends messaging her, etc.). she was thankful but she was hit with the realization on how lonely she actually is.
"cheer up, seul, dad said to find new people," she whispers to herself, plopping down onto her mattress she started to look on instagram.
okay, how the heck do find people that are food bloggers? she wasn't sure if she should type up food blogger or eumshik university into the search bar.
she settled on typing eumshik university into the search bar first. but frowned at the first few posts that she saw. the tag was cluttered with posts of people and their friends, dorms, and the campus. she rolled her eyes. no food posts, lame.
she gave up shortly—she felt annoyed just seeing all the posts about people and their friends. she's envious of that type of friendship. seulhui moved onto viewing posts on her explore page, she needed to watch trivial videos and posts that would take up all of her time.
"holy." she whispered to herself as her eyes were set on her screen.
food. that's what the post is. it was a food post. having some sort of hope she decided to check the poster's instagram page. there's nothing wrong with seeing what type of person they are...
viewing the profile, she noticed how they had a decent follower count and their page was amazing. filled of aesthetic food pictures and a few pictures of the poster's face. yet, there wasn't any personal information about the person. only their name, username, some vents, and their face.
should i message them about what college they go to—? no, that's weird. you don't even know their age. she fumbles with the question of whether or not she should follow them.
she decides not to follow them but she decides to screenshot their profile instead. once i'm brave i'll just follow and message them.
the notification interrupted seuhui's train of thoughts. after replying to her mother, she spent the rest of the night viewing other food accounts.
seulhui ended up with four new screenshots in her camera roll.
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author's note this was one lengthy chapter lolol uhum... so like as you guys saw (maybe?) i have decided to pick 4 applicants as chosen characters. apps are still welcomed bc there's no deadline yet! but i'm definitely thinking about picking 4 or maybe 5 applicants? i picked 6 before.... but that got... a lot. lol but that might change haha
* old chapter, from ver 1.0 lol i just changed some details. it's overall the same vibe though!
i read all apps that have been submitted btw!! working on reviews..
hopefully soon (next week realistically). tysm for applying! the more apps i get the more im like wow i shouldve tried harder w mine lol.. will edit mine too but not too much???
i'm still accepting apps too !!
hopefully soon (next week realistically). tysm for applying! the more apps i get the more im like wow i shouldve tried harder w mine lol.. will edit mine too but not too much???
i'm still accepting apps too !!
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