Author's Note: Hello, everyone! Happy 2023! If it's not that happy yet, my apologies. It's only four days, so give it a chance, ok? 

So... what's new with me?

I got a pretty awesome job working remotely a year ago, which pays the bills and keeps me out of mischief. My physical health in 2022 was not great though. I tore my ACL in my knee (which was very debilitating) and managed to give myself tennis elbow lifting a heavy Xbox console (which actually inspired this story, haha!)

This story might not be your cup of tea, but I'm hoping you'll give it a chance. I've been working through some things since my dad passed away nearly two years ago and it definitely shows in this fic. But Seulrene's in it, so... yay *half-hearted cheer*

Happy reading! 

Seulgi opened her front door with a weary countenance, immediately cleansing her hands with sanitiser she kept hanging on her coat rack.

Her flat in Jamsil was exactly as she’d left it a few hours ago: shaded behind closed curtains and appliances humming softly in every nook.

Seulgi had managed to drive herself to and from her physiotherapist’s office in Myeongdeong without any pain. But now that her treatment was done, her left arm throbbed all over.

Only she, who never played tennis except on an Xbox, would somehow give herself tennis elbow.

Seulgi sighed and massaged her bicep where the physio did some dry needling earlier. The flesh was tender, like she’d been punched there repeatedly. She groaned aloud, gazing haplessly around her apartment where she lived alone.

She’d always revelled in her independence. Even when she’d been just five months old, her mom bragged to her friends that she’d been able to place her child’s cot in a different room away from her and baby Seulgi hadn’t kicked up a fuss.

Seulgi liked - no, loved, being alone.

Then Covid-19 happened and turned the whole planet upside down. That’s when Seulgi finally realised that there was no true revelry in being alone, much less with your own thoughts — for three long years.

Now that she was fully vaccinated and finally ready to be sociable, she just had to go and injure herself carrying heavy groceries up three flights of stairs for her sister. Suddenly having someone to talk to 24-7 and even take care of her in her hour of need seemed like bliss in comparison to how she’d been living for so long.

There were her ritual trips to Kyobo Bookstore in Jongno-gu, but that hardly counted. She only ever spoke to the security guard or the staff. And if there happened to be anyone cute in the bookstore, she’d just gape at them like an idiot until it was time for her to go home.

She grabbed a heat pack with gel microbeads in it and placed it in the microwave, waiting impatiently all the while. She remembered what her physio told her about stretching out her left triceps when the microwave had 15 seconds left on its digital timer.

The stretch only helped a little. Her triceps still felt as hard and ribbony as ever. Seulgi snatched the scalding heat pack, slamming the microwave door with loud exasperation.

Then she trudged to her bedroom, one painstaking step at a time.

Her apartment was a simple affair: a small bedroom, cramped bathroom and kitchen with an absurdly spacious living room just to confuse her sporadic guests all the more. Still, it was home and she’d taken great pains to make it comfortable. One Christmas, she’d spent her entire bonus on buying two handsome oak shelves placed on either side of the hallway leading to her bedroom lined with her favourite novels and comics.

Seulgi spent a few minutes filling a tall glass with water and adding a few drops of lavender oil to it. Then she carefully placed an unusual object connected to a white USB plug into the glass. It was small, baby blue and round like a doughnut with a metallic centre. After plugging it in, the device gurgled and moved in a circle in the glass, emitting a thin trail of lavender-scented mist into the air.

Seulgi grinned briefly at her bite-size doughnut diffuser, which had been an impulse purchase during one of her many trips to Kyobo. Whenever she felt stressed out or sad, she turned on the diffuser and pretended for a few bright minutes that all was well in the world.

Except that it wasn’t.

Seulgi fell backwards onto her bed with a heavy sigh and an even heavier heart. She rolled her eyes and forced her good hand to grab her Samsung tablet. There were several notifications from work in an impatient banner across the screen. She sent hasty replies without any real feeling.

It all felt pathetically tedious anyway.

She ignored the numerous unread alerts on her Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3, warning her about a supposed nuclear attack from North Korea. As if Covid-19 hadn’t been bad enough, there was still the commonplace annoyance of watching the news and rolling her eyes at Kim Jong-un’s pudgy features and absurd crew cut which wouldn’t have looked out of place in any of her favourite mangas.

At any rate, Seulgi would bet her entire life savings if Kim Jong-un owned a toy rocket he played with in the bath, much less his supposed hundreds that he continuously threatened to send over the DMZ.

The only thing that scares me about Kim Jong-un is how much Odeng he inhales at all those diplomatic affairs…

Seulgi smirked at the irreverent thought and shoved the heat pack under her tennis elbow a minute later, feeling temporary relief. She glanced woefully at the time on her smartphone before closing it with a sigh, forcing herself to get comfortable on her queen size bed. If she didn’t try to sleep now, she’d end up working late again and her physiotherapist had already warned her about overworking her strained arm muscles by typing too much.

Seulgi closed her eyes, trying haplessly to think of Shiba Inu puppies and their curled, sickle-shaped tails instead of meta descriptions and search engine optimisation for the article she was supposed to be editing for her boss right now.

Ah, the joys of remote work: lying to your boss about your high levels of productivity…

Instead of sesame-coloured dogs, a pair of dark brown eyes entered Seulgi’s mind. It was an inviting intrusion, loosening the tense muscles in her left arm more effectively than any prescribed stretching.

And just when she thought sweet sleep would elude her, Seulgi’s overwrought body finally heeded her wishes, and she drifted off.

Seulgi woke up two and half hours later, unsure of the time - or the century.

Her tennis elbow was very sore which was unsurprising, considering she’d been hugging her spare pillow like a long-lost lover while sleeping.

Seulgi swung her left arm upwards, rotating her stiff wrist and arm in rapid circles till she heard several satisfying clicks.

She frowned, mumbling curse words at the disloyal alarm on her smartphone.

Ssibal saekki sigye...

Soft footfalls instantly caught Seulgi’s attention, making her tense all over. She soon relaxed when the sounds weren’t repeated, thinking it was one of her neighbours petering around somewhere close by.

“Good, you’re awake—”

Seulgi let out several banshee screams at the intruder who now stood in her room.

“Murderer! Thief! Survey taker!”

“Well, hello to you too, lover,” the newcomer murmured drolly.

Lover? Who’s doing any lovin’ around here?! What the TikTok is going on right now???

Seulgi tugged hard on her tanned cheeks. She felt awake, and yet, none of this looked or felt familiar. And she knew exactly what vividly confusing dreams looked like - especially ones involving beautiful women suddenly calling her endearing pet names.

“Ya, nuguseyo?” Seulgi demanded.

“Juhyun, why did you give up your Friday evening for this?” The woman muttered to herself.

Her name is Juhyun? Daebak…

“Cool name.” Seulgi said aloud without thinking.

Something twinkled in the dark-haired woman’s eyes at the unexpected compliment. “Thanks, naming me was my parents’ greatest accomplishment.”

Seulgi took in the rest of the strange woman named Juhyun. She was beautiful with angular cheeks and a long, elegant nose, but shorter than the women Seulgi usually liked or dated. With surprisingly muscular calves on pale, skinny legs, she certainly seemed like the type to remedy a height difference by wearing ridiculously high stilettos.

Seulgi tried to get up using her left hand but was stopped midway by a delicate hand on her chest.

“Be careful with your tennis elbow.”

Whoa, she knows about my ridiculous injury! Is she a witch???

“Ara, ara.” Seulgi used her right hand instead to sit up in bed.

The gorgeous female dove onto the mattress, regarding her with big brown eyes.

There’s a woman on my bed?! And she’s hot!!! Wait… why is there a hot woman on my bed? Does she have Stockholm Syndrome???

“You’re on my bed,” Seulgi said aloud.

The woman chuckled. “I am. I’ve been waiting for you to wake up.”

A disturbing thought entered Seulgi’s mind, making her pull the comforter tightly around her. “Were you… watching me?”

“God, no! I’m not a creep - I was re-watching Squid Game on Netflix.”

This chick was watching on my smart TV?! What kind of sicko does that???

“Psycho virus,” Seulgi muttered quietly to herself.

"Bballi kaja!"

“Go where?”

The brunette groaned dramatically. “How are you so dumb yet cute when you’re half-awake? You’re taking me out to dinner, remember?”

“No,” Seulgi answered immediately.

There was a lot about this that she couldn’t seem to remember.

Then again, the strange woman did appear to be dressed for dinner in stilettos which accentuated her stunning legs and a red wraparound dress which Seulgi felt tempted to unravel at that precise moment.

Damn, I am mad post-nap!

“Unbelievable. You begged me to come over so we could finally have a meal together. But first, you had to take a nap because you’ve been working late for days now. Is any of this ringing a bell???”

“Not really, I couldn’t be any clearer. But now that you mention it, I guess I could eat…”

“You’re so romantic,” the brunette said drolly. Nevertheless, she planted an affectionate kiss on Seulgi’s astonished lips. “Put on some pants - I know you aren’t wearing any.”

With that, she strolled out of the room.

As soon as she was alone, Seulgi dove under the blankets, emerging a second later with crimson cheeks.

Dammit! Where are my pants??? 

Author's Note: Hee hee, at least I'm still as random as ever :-P Most of you die-hard K-pop fans probably already know what the Korean words and phrases in this chapter meant. But it can't hurt to explain what they mean anyway for those of you who don't know or speak Korean: 

1) 'Odeng' is a soup with fish cakes in it and a favourite in South Korea.

2) 'Ssibal saekki sigye' means S-word + F-bombs and 'clock' at the end. You get the gist. 

3) 'Yah, nuguseyo?' is an informal way of asking 'Who are you?'. 

4) 'Daebak' means 'cool' or 'awesome' to express excitement in a situation. 

5) 'Ara' is short for 'arasseyo', which means 'I understand' or 'I got it'. 

6) 'Bbali kaja' means 'hurry, let's go.'. 

I'll try and post a new chapter for this story soonish. In the meantime, please leave me some comments and subscribe to my new story. My self-worth is hanging on by a thread :-P 

I've got a bad headache, so I should probably stop staring at a screen and get some sleep. Stay safe, all of you! <3