Baekhee stood out on the balcony, resting her elbows on the railings. It was a really tiring day; she had to go back to school for extra supplementary lessons even though it was a weekend. The lessons lasted from 9 am to 3 pm, with only a couple of short breaks and some time for lunch. By 2.30 pm, she was itching to get back home as fast as possible to enjoy some time sleeping. But, since she wasn’t able to sleep, she might as well get a breath of fresh air to help her loosen up a little. Baekhee turned around to walk back into the room when she heard the beeping of a truck from below. She glanced down. A truck transporting furniture. Someone is moving in? She groaned; oh how she hated new neighbours. She trudged back into her room and flopped on the bed. New neighbours. She shuddered at that thought. this .

            “Baekhee! Come down here!” Mrs Hwang, her mother, shouted from the kitchen. Baekhee shuffled down the stairs and went into the kitchen. “Yes mom?” Mrs Hwang turned and smiled at her daughter.

“We’re gonna have new neighbours! I’ll be making a batch of cookies and you help me pass it to them, alright?”

“No way, mom. You know how I feel around new people.”

“Oh come on, it’s our neighbour, you should soften up a little bit and make them feel welcomed to the neighbourhood.”

Baekhee stiffened at the words ‘soften up’. She hated softening to people. The only person she was soft to was her mom. She mostly ignored others. Baekhee sighed quietly and nodded her head. She sat down on the sofa and stared at the blank television screen. Soon, the said one fell asleep.

            Baekhee woke up at the smell of freshly baked cookies. She her lips and joined her mom in the kitchen beside the oven. “I see you have woken up from your nice little nap. Feel better from the lessons?” Baekhee nodded her head and eyed the cookies. She felt really hungry as she didn’t eat lunch, and it was already nearing 5 pm. She darted her right hand out to grab a cookie but Mrs Hwang slapped her hand away. Baekhee pouted and rubbed her hand.
 

            “These are for the new neighbours!” Baekhee rolled her eyes; they were already causing her trouble with her mom. She slowly packed the cookies into a nice looking container and faked a smile at her mother. “I’ll go now.” Mrs Hwang sighed happily that for once her daughter was willing to go, and she motioned for her to move along. Baekhee turned around and walked out of the bungalow, her smile gone. She wanted to punch the wall for her mom forcing her to do this, but she was afraid of the pain that came afterwards. She slowly walked to the next house, just beside her mom’s. Baekhee pressed the doorbell nervously, anxious to get this over and done with.

            A young lady answered the door and looked at Baekhee. “Erm… I’m Hwang Baekhee. I-I live just next door with my mother. She made t-this for you guys to welcome you all into the neighbourhood.” Baekhee stammered nervously. The young lady smiled warmly and introduced herself as Mdm Xi. “Why don’t you come in, it must be freezing out there.” She ushered Baekhee and sat her down on the couch. She looked around at her new surroundings. This isn’t part of the plan. I have to get out of here before that Mdm Xi does anything. Before Baekhee could open , Mdm Xi had beaten her to it. “I’ll bring my sons and husband down to meet you.” She ran up the stairs like an excited little girl wanting to tell her mom something great. Baekhee just sat there, staring at her feet while digging her nails into her palm. She has sons?! Oh yippee. She thought sarcastically. She heard footsteps on the stairs and hoped it was Mdm Xi. Baekhee looked up and locked eyes with a teenage boy, around her age. Another boy followed him behind, and he was taller than the first one. Both of them look cut- wait what! Get a grip on yourself, Hwang Baekhee!

She glanced nervously at the two of them as they looked back at her. After what felt like eternity, Mdm Xi came back down, explaining that Mr Xi isn’t able to come down as he was caught up with some issues. Thank goodness. “Oh yeah. Luhan and Kyungsoo, say hi to Baekhee, Baekhee say hi to Luhan and Kyungsoo.” “Hello, Baekhee. I’m Luhan.” The taller one pushed the shorter one away and stood in front of her, smiling angelically. He stuck his hand out, waiting for Baekhee to shake it. She raised her trembling hand and shook Luhan’s, faking a smile. The shorter guy tried to push Luhan away but to no avail. She giggled, for the scene in front of her was funny and comical. It was a long time since she laughed, so it was a little weird for her at first. Luhan and Kyungsoo looked at Baekhee and smiled. “Don’t mind Luhan. He’s just the type that flirts. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Kyung-ow!” Luhan had apparently stomped on Kyungsoo’s foot, causing him to yelp.

Baekhee laughed even more, covering . “Why, hello, Kyungow.” She smirked at Kyungsoo. Luhan rolled on the floor, laughing hard as he clutched his stomach. Kyungsoo pouted unconsciously. Baekhee playfully nudged his shoulder before adding, “Oops, I mean Kyungsoo.” Mdm Xi looked at them, acting like they knew each other since childhood. She noticed that her sons’ expressions had changed ever since they moved here.

Baekhee looked at the clock that hung in the living room. It read 6.15 pm. Wow. Did I really spend an hour here? She put on an apologetic face and turned to the boys. “Sorry, but I have to go now. My mom’s probably thinking about what I’m doing here. Maybe you could visit us someday? We live right beside you guys.” She smiled to herself. It was a long time since she had friends over. Luhan and Kyungsoo nodded. “Sure, we will.” Baekhee bade them goodbye and walked back out onto the main street. The sons looked at her as she walked away. Once she disappeared from their sight, both of them turned to each other, smiled and said the same thing at the same time. “She’s nice.”

Yeah, I promised you guys that I’ll update this week right? ;) What is making this chapter special is that I updated this on my birthday! Woots~ I’m a 00 liner ^^ (I’m probably your dongsaeng ;~;) First chapter and it’s already 1088 words long! I never wrote this much for my essays at school. XD I think it’s the thought of gaining more subbies and pleasing you all with timely updates that motivates me to do this. ^^ Tomorrow there isn’t any school for me, so I’ll be typing up a new chapter but not uploading too soon. I don’t want you guys to think highly of me assuming that I update super fast. >< Sorry! But I’ll try to update at least twice a week, more if I’m in the mood. :) Until the next update, see you all soon!

-Hajir

P.S. I’m a muslim and my real name is Hajir. ^0^ So what are your religions? And what line are you? A 98 liner? 95 liner? Oh I’m so curious, yeah~~