Chapter 1. Watermelon

"Peniel!" Soo Ri screamed rather loudly as she bolted out of the taxi when it came to a stop. She ran until she jumped on her best friend, nearly making them both fall for the strong impact.

"Soo Ri ah!" he yelled, rather girlishly as he nearly fell back into some old ladies (who gave the two youngsters death glares and pushed their little groceries roller bags away from them). "You almost gave me a heart attack there. Wait, don't you need your bags?" he said pulling her down on her feet. The excited girl, still breathless with a big grin, suddenly turned around and realized the taxi driver was yelling at her and pointing to the trunk.

"Sorry" she said bowing quickly and ran to the trunk. She started pulling out her suitcases clumsily but Peniel quickly came over and helped her with her suitcases. "So let's go, I want to meet your roommates!"
 
"Oh...right, see I haven't exactly told them-"
 
"It's the second floor right? Oh good, I didn't want to have to lug these all the way to the top!" Soo Ri said pulling at her suitcases with Peniel stuttering behind her into the apartment building.

"Wait, about my roommates..."
 
"Are they nice? They seem nice. How many do you have again?" Soo Ri said pushing the elevator button repeatedly, while hopping from one foot to the other.
 
"Ummm...well there is three of us in total...". There was a loud "bing" and the elevator doors slid open. Soo Ri pulled Peniel inside by his elbow, squishing the two of them together (along with all her stuff) into the tight space.
 
"Three other boys? Sounds messy....Well it's okay, I'm not clean myself so I can't complain. Thank you so much for letting me stay these next couple of months. I did not want to stay in the dorms with a bunch of other girls," she said letting out a big sigh of relief. "And I missed my best friend!" she exclaimed, going up on her tip toes to ruffle his hair. The elevator stopped at their floor and she hurried out, urging her best friend to go faster.
 
"Why are you in such a hurry?" Peniel complained, pulling most of her stuff behind him like a pack mule. "And I thought you were only staying for three months? It looks like you packed for three years!" he said. He fished through his pocket for the key and opened the door, letting Soo Ri in first.

 
"Oppa! It looks great! You have such a nice apartment," she complimented. Suddenly Peniel's cell phone went off and he looked down at the screen when his eyes got big.
 
"I have to take this," he said quickly. "Hello?"
 
Soo Ri turned around a full 360 degrees to look at the scenery before her. They were in a decent size living room, and she could even see the kitchen was pretty clean for it's owners being completely male. "We are in? Really? Thank you, thank you so much!" Peniel said loudly and he hung up. He wrapped his arms around Soo Ri and jumped up and down with her.
 
"Congratulations oppa!...Wait, why are you jumping again?" she asked, scrunching up her nose.
 
"Oh right, well my friends I and have a rap group. And we entered to be competitors for a rap competition and that was the call from the judges for the audition we went to last week. We got in! We made it past the first round" Peniel said, unbelievably happy.
 
"See? I told you I was your lucky charm? I've only been in Korea for one hour and you get this kind of news," Soo Ri

 
"You wish kid," Peniel said sticking out his tongue. "I have to go tell my friends. They live next door, I'll have to introduce you another time because I think they are at the University. I'm sorry, but do you mind if I leave you here? For just an hour and then I'll be back?"
 
"Of course! Go celebrate," Soo Ri said patting his shoulder. "I actually had a lot of coffee on the plane to keep me awake but I think it's starting to wear off. I'll just relax and unpack so you go have fun".
 
"See this is why you're my best friend. Ok good, let me just grab my jacket and keys..." he said, rushing down to his bedroom door and coming back out with the said items. "Okay, so one of my roommates is sleeping down there, so don't wake him okay? He will get cranky if you do" Peniel warned.
 
"Okay, I'll be as quiet as a mouse" Soo Ri promised.
 
***

Soo Ri grabbed her things and headed down the hall. She knew there were two bedrooms and that she was sharing a room with Peniel while his other two roommates were sharing the other one. She opened the door slowly and saw a messy room with a lump in one of the beds. Light brown hair was sticking out from the end of the blanket and the body asleep under it was moving up and down from the steady breathing.
 
"That must be his roommate..." she thought to herself and closed the door gently. She turned around and opened the other door directly across from her and she nearly screamed when she saw inside.
 
A boy, younger than her, was kneeling on the ground with his hands resting face down on his knees. He was staring intently at the watermelon on the ground in front of him. That's right, a big green watermelon was on a dish towel randomly in the middle of the room.
 
"Ummm...what are you doing?" Soo Ri whispered. The boy didn't look up but brought up a single slender finger to his lips as if to tell Soo Ri that she was being too loud. He then looked up at her and gave her a big grin.
 
"I'm testing out an experiment," he said, in a surprisingly deep voice.
 
"An experiment...that involves a watermelon?"

"Yes. Come in quickly and close the door behind you" Soo Ri did what she was told and then knelt down beside the strange boy.
 
"So what are you going to do to it? Eat it?" Soo Ri asked sarcastically.
 
"Yes," the boy answered looking back at the watermelon. "But first I'm going to break it open," he declared.
 
"Okay, but with what?" Soo Ri asked looking around and not finding anything suitable for breaking open a watermelon.
 
"My head!" the boy cried out and tried to break the watermelon open with his head. There was a loud cracking sound and the boy doubled over in pain, clutching his forehead and curled up on the ground with his knees bent in. He yelled out while Soo Ri couldn't help but laugh, and laugh loudly holding her stomach. She had never seen something so ridiculous.

 The combination of her high pitch, out of control laughing and the strange boys yells of pain and cussing woke up the sleeping boy next door and there was a loud slam of the door that caused both of them to grow silent quickly. A boy wrapped up in in a colourful blanket, with his hair sticking up in random directions and his eyes still hollowed with sleep glared at the two troublemakers furiously.
 
"Who are you and why are you making so much noise?" he yelled, impatiently. Soo Ri just opened and then closed it again. "So now you are quiet?" he mumbled rudely and then turned to the strange boy. "And how many times have I told you to go back home? You don't leave here! You just come to make noise all the time and cause a mess!" the boy said angrily and stomped his feet quite childishly. Both Soo Ri and Sungjae tried to stifle their laughter at the sight but then they both burst out laughing causing the angry boy to give them another glare before huffing back to his bedroom.
 
Soo Ri wiped the tears of laughter from her eyes but then grew serious as she turned to look at her accomplice. "You don't live here? Then who are you?" she asked skeptically.
 
"Who are you?"
 
"I asked you first!"
 
"While I asked you second!" Sungjae pouted.
 
"How old are you? Five?" Soo Ri teased.
 
"I'm 17 for your information" Sungjae huffed and crossed his arms.

"Ahhh...you're like a big baby then" Soo Ri said leaned over to pinch his cheeks. "My name is Soo Ri. Lee Soo Ri. I'm 18 so you can call me noona.
 
"Okay noona, why are you here?"
 
"Oh, well Peniel is my best friend from the States. I'm doing a three month program with my college and studying abroad. Peniel said I could stay with him for the time"
 
"Oh you're friends with Peniel hyung?" Sungjae said with his eyes lighting up. "He is my favourite hyung, he buys me candy" he said clapping his hands together.
 
"You are adorable"
 
"I know"
 
"We all know, now can you two be quiet!"
 
Soo Ri and Sungjae both stared at the open door, hearing the voice from across the hall. "That's ilhoon hyung, he is a big cranky ," Sungjae whispered.
 
"I heard that!"
 
"Good! Now get up! It's already noon, you should be awake anyways hyung" Sungjae countered.
 
"Fine," ilhoon grumbled. "I won't be able to get any more sleep with your hyperactive self in my apartment. Why do you keep coming over?"
 
"You guys have food. My hyungs always forget to go to the market" Sungjae answered simply.
 
"I can make you food! Though, the only thing I can really offer you is ramen..."

"Noona is going to make me food! I like you noona!" Sungjae said and stood up along with Soo Ri.
 
"Omo! You are tall" Soo Ri said her eyes growing big at the tall boy in front of her.
 
"And you are so tiny noona! You are even shorter than ilhoon hyung, I didn't think that was possible"
 
"I'm not that short" ilhoon yelled back and made his appearance again, this time with a T-shirt and sweatpants. His hair however was still a mess and he still looked very tired.
 
"If I make you a cup of coffee will I be forgiven?" Soo Ri asked hopefully. ilhoon looked at her and then back at smiling Sungjae before finally nodded his head.
 
"Couldn't hurt," he said with a slight smirk and then smacked Sungjae over the head.
 
"YA! Hyung what was that for?" Sungjae pouted, rubbing the back of his head and looking hurt like a little puppy.
 
"Don't think I didn't see what you were doing in there. How many times have we told you to not break fruits with your head? Do you hear the words that are coming out of my mouth? To think that I have to tell you this more than once...ughhh," he said finally grumbled when he couldn't say more and waddled over to the kitchen.
 
"I think I'm going to like it here" Soo Ri said clapping her hands in glee.