Seohyun tossed and turned in her bed. Somehow she felt uncomfortable, very uncomfortable.

Maybe it was because she’s never shared her bed with anyone.

It’s not that she was cramped, per se. There was plenty of room on her king sized bed. Her parents thought it was necessary to get such a huge size for someone who lived alone. Well, not anymore. Oh, if only they saw her now.

She turned to face Hyoyeon, this ghost who apparently lived in her house. No wonder the place was so cheap. Seohyun still couldn’t believe it, ghosts couldn’t exist. And if they did exist, she was certain that they didn’t sleep.

And yet, here she was, sharing her bed with a ghost who snores.

In that moment, she realized something. If ghosts could exist, then what kind of supernatural powers did they have? Could Hyoyeon read her mind? Could she see through walls?

Seohyun clutched the blanket and held it closer to her. And then she tried her best to not be so tense, there was no way the ghost had supernatural powers. She had to sleep, after all. She couldn’t really be supernatural.

Perhaps? Perhaps this was all a joke and maybe Hyoyeon was her neighbour pulling some sort of elaborate prank on her?

Suddenly Seohyun felt very angry. She huffed and brought her hand out. If she could touch Hyoyeon, then surely she was real.

Reaching out, Seohyun started to feel a little shy. Was it rude to touch someone while they slept? She exhaled and shook her head, if this is some joke, then she has every right to touch her. Right?

Her index finger was only a few centimetres away from Hyoyeon’s forehead. Seohyun noticed now that the girl looked extremely peaceful in her sleep. It was quite opposite to the girl who was talking her ear off earlier. She then wondered what kind of day the girl had. Was she hiding in her closet this whole time? No wonder why she was tired.

Seohyun shook her head, she was getting off track! Finally, her fingers reached Hyoyeon’s face and while she was sure she should be touching her flesh, she felt nothing. Her fingers went right through!

Seohyun almost shrieked upon realizing that Hyoyeon was in fact, a ghost. She pulled her hand back towards her and looked at it. Nothing. No tingles, no contact, just nothing.

“Are you done yet?”

The human girl screamed, suddenly surprised by Hyoyeon’s voice. She nearly fell over, but Hyoyeon had caught her. Or well, she thought she caught her. Hyoyeon’s hand went straight through Seohyun’s arm and the human girl managed to catch her balance before tumbling down.

“Did I surprise you?” Hyoyeon asked, giggling at Seohyun’s still very surprised expression.

“Yes!” Seohyun shouted back, her hand over her erratically beating heart.

“Sorry,” the ghost replied, scratching her neck and giving Seohyun a wink. “It’s just that you’re very noisy and I was trying to sleep.”

“Noisy?” Seohyun was certain she wasn’t saying a word. “But I…”

Hyoyeon giggled before falling back onto the bed and turning her head towards Seohyun.

“Didn’t I tell you? I can read minds!”

She brushed her blonde hair aside and stared at Seohyun, wiggling her fingers and pointing them towards her head. Hyoyeon had been listening the whole time as she tried to sleep. Seohyun’s thoughts had been loud and numerous.

“Don’t read my mind!” Seohyun demanded, her hands holding onto her head as if protecting her thoughts. “That’s not nice!”

Hyoyeon propped herself on top of her elbows and pursed her lips, “Is it really not that nice?” she asked, tilting her head.

“Yes, my thoughts are private and you should respect my privacy,” Seohyun retorted, huffing and puffing like usual. “It’s rather invasive to read them without my permission.”

The ghost sighed and gave Seohyun a lopsided smile, “Okay, fine. But only because you asked me. And it’s a bonus that you’re cute. Especially your underwear, you a big fan of Keroro?”

Seohyun felt every drop of her blood go straight to her head and she suddenly felt extremely vulnerable. She screamed and used her legs and arms to protect her body from Hyoyeon’s eyes.

“ert!” she squealed, backing away from Hyoyeon and turning away. From her neck to the tip of her ears, Seohyun turned a bright shade of red. She shut her eyes tightly and prayed that maybe, just maybe this was all some humiliating dream.

“Get out!” she screamed, she could feel tears starting to build up, “Get out of my house and leave me alone!” She was beginning to regret taking the entire ghost scenario so lightly. Seohyun wanted to be alone and she wanted the damn erted ghost to leave.

Slightly taken aback, the ghost let out a very nervous laugh. She was just joking around (although she certainly did like what she saw under Seohyun’s jammies), but she didn’t mean to make her new friend so angry. Hyoyeon let out a sigh before slowly inching towards the tomato shaded girl, “Hyunnie, look I’m sorry. I’ll turn that off too, I’m sorry.”

Seohyun sniffled and opened her eyes to face the blonde ghost. She was surprised to see her eyes filled with sincerity and she wasn’t sure, but she swore that she saw sadness too.

“I’ll turn off all my ghost powers, okay? I’ll respect your privacy, I promise. Now come on,” Hyoyeon offered her hand and a small smile, “Let’s go to sleep, okay?”

Seohyun couldn’t find any words, but she didn’t want to think any at the moment, just in case Hyoyeon still hadn’t turned her mind reading off. Instead, she just nodded and slowly untensed her body. She accepted Hyoyeon’s hand, or at least the ghost of it and laid right back down.

“Hyunnie?” Seohyun managed, her lips curling up at the cute nick name.

“Do you not like it?” Hyoyeon whispered, her eyelids feeling heavier by the second.

“No, I like it,” the other girl answered honestly, her cheeks turning a soft shade of pink.

“Good.”

Seohyun woke up at exactly 6AM. The book store would be opening in two hours so she had just enough time to shower, get ready and cook herself breakfast.

She turned to her side to see Hyoyeon sleeping peacefully. Seohyun wondered if she had to wake up as well? Did she have anywhere to go? Did ghosts have jobs? However, she didn’t have much time to ponder for she needed to get ready right away.

Hyoyeon woke up to the smell of pancakes. Wait, correction, banana pancakes! She loved the smell and she loved the food. She smiled to herself and immediately got up.

It was 7AM. Whoa, she didn’t expect the girl to be awake so early.

“I haven’t met a morning person in years,” she muttered to herself before letting out a huge yawn.

Her stomach growled, another occurrence that hadn’t happened in years.

Ghosts didn’t get hungry. Hyoyeon wasn’t sure when was the last time she had a meal because she was hungry and not just because she wanted to eat something out of boredom. It was a strange sensation, but Hyoyeon decided that she liked it.

Although she promised Seohyun she’d turn off her ghost powers, walking all the way down stairs didn’t seem like a very appealing idea. She shrugged, as long as Seohyun didn’t see her using them, then it was okay right?

Hyoyeon eased herself through the floors and made her way to the living room just down below. When she landed on a very cute looking couch, Hyoyeon once again decided that she really liked her new tenant. Seohyun had cleaned up the place nicely, especially for someone who just recently moved in.

She decided to take her time and really let herself take in Seohyun’s lovely sense of home décor.

The room had a very simple colour scheme. It was pink and green, like a strawberry. Hyoyeon giggled at the thought of Seohyun’s very simple and very girly colour choices. Then it made her wonder, how old was the girl actually? To be living alone in a haunted house, she couldn’t be too young, right? But then again, she did have Kerero jammies.

Her eyes wandered to a huge book shelf in the corner of the room. It surprised Hyoyeon that she didn’t see it first. Never had she seen so many books in one area! She sifted through the titles, a lot of classics that she’s only heard about in school and a lot of…self improvement books?

Hyoyeon snorted, she didn’t know actual people read those types of books! And then she noticed different biographies and historical textbooks and books on writing and analyzing literature.

“Must be a book freak,” Hyoyeon nodded to herself. Normally she’d roll her eyes at this, but she somehow found it endearing. She also made note to ask Seohyun later who Ban Ki Moon was.

“You’re up?”

Hyoyeon turned around to see Seohyun in a red apron and a plate filled with banana pancakes. She smiled at the girl and wanted more than anything to run to her and give her a big hug.

“I wasn’t sure if ghosts ate but it’s okay if you don’t. Yoong really likes my pancakes too and so does Sunny unnie and I’m pretty sure those two skip breakfast,” Seohyun went on, tilting her head and staring at the pancakes. She counted them and made sure she didn’t make too much.

“I eat,” Hyoyeon responded, making her way towards the beautiful, sweet smelling pancakes.

Seohyun smiled brightly, her eyes twinkling, “Good! Come on then Hyo unnie, let’s eat.”

“Hyo?” the ghost asked, her face stretching into the widest smile she’s produced in the past century.

Seohyun instantly blushed and tried her best to cover it up by getting some milk for Hyoyeon.

“It’s a nickname,” she answered, pouring a glass of milk for her…roommate? She wasn’t entirely sure. “I can call you that, right?”

Hyoyeon nodded furiously and banged her hands on the table in excitement, “Yes, yes you can! Now gimme pancakes!”

Seohyun rolled her eyes at Hyoyeon’s poor manners, but couldn’t help but giggle as well. Although she was sceptical of having a ghost living with her, she couldn’t help but think now that maybe it won’t be so bad.

The bell that hung over the door to the store rung and Sunny knew immediately who it was. She had two lovely, loyal employees, but only one was always exactly 15 minutes early to her shift.

“Morning Joohyun!” Sunny greeted happily, putting down the book she was about to put away.

Another thing she loved about Joohyun was her tendency of bringing food for her every once in a while. And Sunny could smell those banana pancakes the second Seohyun came in.

“Morning Sunny unnie!” Seohyun responded just as happily. She handed over the paper bag marked, ‘S’ and gave it to her boss. “Here you go. But unnie, you really shouldn’t skip breakfast.”

Sunny almost missed Seohyun’s question as she ripped the bag open and grabbed the wooden chopsticks that were inside. She wanted to get to those circular pieces of heaven as soon as possible.

“I had a granola bar,” she replied through mouthfuls of pancake, “And a glass of milk so I can grow taller.”

“A granola bar isn’t breakfast,” Seohyun scolded with a shake of her head. It was the same thing every day. Sunny would either have a granola bar or a banana or some other piece of fruit as she ran out of her house to the book store she owned.

“And it’s kind of too late for you to grow any taller unnie, you’re 26,” another voice chimed in.

“Yoong!” Seohyun exclaimed, running to the door to hug her best friend and fellow co-worker.

“Hey Seohyunnie! You’re in a good mood this morning,” Yoona returned the greeting, squeezing her childhood friend. “I guess you had a good night’s rest in your new house?”

“Oh yeah!” Sunny exclaimed, hunks of pancake spilling from , “How’s your new house? Are you going to invite us over anytime soon? I’m free this weekend, how about you Yoona?”

“This weekend sounds good,” Yoona answered, the two girls practically inviting themselves over to Seohyun’s place.

“What’s happening this weekend?” another voice joined the book store’s morning chorus. It was a frequent customer and a friend from across the street.

“Taeyeonnie!” Sunny exclaimed, quickly wiping with a napkin and making her way towards their neighbour. “I told you to stop bringing us drinks and just work like a good girl.”

Before Taeyeon could reply, she was engulfed by two giants. She struggled to keep her drinks stable and let out an oomph when Yoona lifted her up.

“Drinks!” Yoona shouted happily, “Hooray!!”

Although the girl did it almost every time she came over, Taeyeon still wasn’t used to being lifted into the air like a five year old.

“Could you please put me down?” she asked wearily, her head suddenly terrified of hitting a bookshelf or maybe even the ceiling.

Yoona immediately dropped her favourite barista and happily accepted the tray of caffeinated drinks that Taeyeon brought for them every day.

“Grande white hot chocolate for Yoona, tall green tea matcha latte for Seohyun and a venti I’m not bothering to say the entire thing because that’s too much work for my fellow shorty,” Taeyeon announced, giving each cup personally to the girls.

“Did you have to add that last part?” Sunny groaned, accepting her drink and giving Taeyeon a soft punch to the shoulder.

“Yes, actually,” Taeyeon responded with a wide grin, “If I have to get called shorty every day, then so do you.”

Before Sunny could reply with a complaint, Seohyun spoke up first.

“Are you free this weekend unnie? I’m going to have a house warming party since I just moved.”

“Oh you did?” Taeyeon asked, her eyes widening slightly, “So where did you and your parents move to?”

“Actually, Seohyunnie is living by herself now,” Yoona announced proudly, affectionately patting Seohyun on the head. “She’s all grown up now.”

Seohyun wanted to inform her friends that she actually isn’t technically living alone, but she figured that maybe it was too early in the morning to talk about how she’s living with a ghost.

“Really now?” Taeyeon asked. She suddenly felt a surge of pride circulate her veins, “Our little Joohyun is growing up so fast!”

“Yo! Taengoo it’s time to get back to work!” a voice announced from the door. “Oh wait, is that banana pancakes I smell?”

“I’m sure you already had breakfast,” Sunny growled, possessively holding her last pancake close to her chest.

“Come on, you can share!”

“You can have one of mine, Sooyoung,” Yoona offered, handing over one of her precious pancakes over.

“Thank you Yoong,” Taeyeon said as she began to get dragged out of the store forcefully by Sooyoung, “If you didn’t give it away then I’m afraid we would’ve stayed here until Yuri screamed at us to get back to work.”

“You’re the best Yoongie,” Sooyoung praised, eating up the pancake in one gulp, “See you guys later!”

Once the door closed, Sunny, Yoona and Seohyun watched as Sooyoung lifted Taeyeon over her shoulders and walked casually back to the café across the street. Sooyoung ignored the beeps of oncoming traffic and Taeyeon’s screams could be heard from within their store.

“That’s always really funny to watch,” Yoona commented casually before taking her own chopsticks out.

“The same thing, every day,” Seohyun said as she giggled, “Now let’s get to work, huh?”