“For you, there's no hope in Mokpo,” Jung Appa had said. “Do you see your future in this crammed room? I don't see it.”

Three hours. That's how far Sung Ah's home was from Seoul. She stared helplessly at the apartment door before her. Her right hand crumbled up her only resolution. She looked at the paper in her hand again and reread the address. She was sure that this was the place where her cousin, Soo Yeon, lived, but she was not confident to take refuge from a cousin she had never met before.

“There's no hope in Mokpo.”

“Blast it! I'm not going to sleep on the street tonight. If I die today, there won't be hope in Seoul either,” cursed Sung-Ah under her breath.

She was stupid, so she deserved to be scammed by a stranger from the Internet. Was a room with a bed and a bathroom equipped with hot water too good to be true? Sung Ah had been thrown out of the her apartment penniless.

Sung Ah muttered a quick prayer before ringing the doorbell.

She received zero response.

On the other side of the door, Hyoyeon, Tiffany, and Seohyun had a heated discussion.

“Oh, no. Not another sasaeng! It's the fourth time this week already!” Tiffany complained after she'd peered at the peep hole.

Seohyun looked worry, “Let's just give her an autograph, unnie.”

“Fine, but if she's demanding we'll take further action.”

Five minutes later, the door finally opened.

Sung Ah managed a friendly smile, “Hello. Is Soo Yeon here? I'm her cousin from Mokpo. I'm Jung Sung Ah.” This girl is too pretty to be related to me. Is there another girl living here? Sung Ah wondered.

Tiffany's charming smile froze. A cousin? That lie is so uncreative! Look at how she smiles too! She totally comes off as crazy. Tiffany quickly regained her composure, “I know that Jessica is your bias, but she's unavailable right now.” What she meant was that Jessica was asleep and there was no way anyone could wake her up. “Would you like my autograph instead?”

“An autograph?” Sung Ah was puzzled, Why would I want her autograph? Do pretty girls just give out autographs to everyone nowadays? “No, thank you. Can you just tell her that her cousin is here?”

“Yeah, sure,” Tiffany was eager to be away from the sasaeng. She was closing the door on Sung Ah's face.

Tiffany gasped as the girl violently jammed her suitcase between the threshold and the door. Tiffany panicked, “Oh my God! We don't need your gifts!”

Seohyun and Hyoyeon saw Tiffany flicked an index finger behind her back. They immediately understood that they needed to take further action.

“Hyoyeon unnie, what should we do? Should we call the cop?”

“No! The last cop wanted all nine of our phone numbers...on speed dial.”

Poor Seohyun shuddered.

“Let's just call Kim oppa. He's on duty tonight.”

“Uhg. No way! What if he starts stalking Tiffany unnie again?”

“That's exactly why we'll call him up! He'll do anything Tiffany asks for.”

Before Tiffany could free herself from the lunatic sasaeng, Sung Ah felt a strong hand gripping her shoulder.

“You don't belong here,” the male voice was soft but assertive.

“Donghae oppa!” Tiffany cried with joy.

Sung Ah turned around and found yet another stranger. His height was average. He was only a head taller than Sung Ah. There was a cute gap between his teeth. She cocked her head to one side. He did look vaguely familiar, but she did not remember meeting him before.

“Are you listening? It's already one in the morning and these girls need to rest.”

I need to rest too! Sung Ah protested, “No. No. No! Please hear me out! I'm really Soo Yeon's cousin from Mokpo. I don't have anywhere to go. Can I please sleep here tonight?”

“Mokpo?”

“Yes!”

Donghae stared at her with some interest. A few minutes past, in which Sung Ah begged with her desperate eyes.

Donghae finally decided, “Okay, we'll see if she's really related to Jessica.”

Tiffany would not give in, “Oppa! She sounds so suspicious! I've never heard that Jessica has any relative from Mokpo at all!”

Why is she so against me? What did I ever do to her? Sung Ah's thoughts was spinning out of control. Just because I refused her autograph?!

Donghae ignored Tiffany's complaints. He carried Sung Ah's suitcase inside the SNSD dorm like a good gentleman.

 ***

Donghae was the judge of the early morning's trial. Hyoyeon, Seohyun, and Tiffany were the juries. Jessica was the victim.

Sung Ah was the criminal.

“You said you are from Mokpo,” Donghae began the interrogation. “What's your name again?”

Sung Ah felt humiliated. I'm no monkey! Sung Ah screamed in her head. Why are they scrutinizing me like I'm an escaped mental patient? She heard her stomach growling. I'm not asking for steak for dinner! All I want is a warm place! The thought of steak made watered. Sung Ah took a deep breath. Focus, Puffy! Focus! “I'm Jung Sung Ah. Nice to meet you all. And you guys are?”

Seohyun and Hyoyeon laughed. Taeyeon sneered, “Of course you don't know us. Not like our faces and names aren't everywhere.”

Sung Ah was speechless. Who do they think they are? They think they are the goddesses or something? Am I the peasant? That guy over there looks more like a peasant than I do! This isn't fair. Sung Ah observed the demeanour of the other girls. They were beautiful even without makeup in their light-colour pajamas. Nope. It's not fair at all.

Wait a second. Did she just say their faces are everywhere...?

“Banana milk!” Sung Ah blurted out her thought. She suddenly remembered the yellow-hued poster in the corner store back home.

Seohyun beamed, “Bingo! That's us!”

Yuri sighed, “Great. Now people only recognize us because of banana milk. I told you guys to do the perfume endorsement instead.”

“Why? I love free milk. Perfumes are so boring.”

Sung Ah was in awe. So these girls are the famous So Nyeo Shi Dae? We have a celebrity in our family? Sung Ah felt a sudden surge of pride.

“Anyway,” Yuri turned to Jessica. “Sica, have you heard of any Jung Sung Ah?”

Jessica shook her head.

So the blank-faced pretty girl is my cousin, thought Sung Ah.

“See? What did I tell you?” Tiffany smiled triumphantly. She walked over to the door. She was ready to send the day's trouble away.

“Jung Sung Ah!” Donghae suddenly shouted, “Puffer fish. Puffy!”

The girls thought Donghae was having one of his “dumb attacks” again, but Sung Ah was shocked to hear her childhood's nickname from a stranger's mouth.

“How do you know Puffy?” asked Sung Ah.

“Whenever you cried, you looked like a puffer fish,” Donghae proudly recalled a forgotten fact, “Don't you remember me?”

Sung Ah took in the sight of the man in front of her from head to toe, and from the bottom and up again. She could not shake away the feeling that she knew him...

Donghae hopped onto the ten-thousand-won coffee table in a squatting position. He put his hands above his ears and imitated a flying elephant.

Jessica chuckled in the corner of the room. She loved the embarrassing Donghae.

“...Dumbo?” guessed Sung Ah. Can he be the little boy from almost twenty years ago? He can't be!

“Yeah, I'm Dumbo and you're Puffy!” said Donghae excitedly.

Sung Ah giggled. He was still the same little boy after all these years. Sung Ah could not believe she would find her dear childhood friend instead of her faraway cousin in Seoul.

The girls were surprised by the turn of events. Jessica seemed to be slightly irritated by this revelation of the past. Sung Ah shot a victorious look at Tiffany. Tiffany stalked back to her seat with a pout.

“Hey, Puffy,” Donghae continued joyously. “You can stay at my dorm for awhile. You're not welcome here anyway.” He got down from the coffee table and grabbed Sung Ah's suitcase.

As Sung Ah considered following her new passageway to humanity, Jessica panicked.

“No,” Jessica finally managed to speak up from her corner. “We can't let a girl to stay at a place with a bunch of guys. If she really is my cousin, I don't know how to explain it to my aunt and uncle.”

Sung Ah heaved a relieved sigh, Thank God I met Dumbo. Sung Ah quickly muttered an “Amen”.

Donghae smiled brightly now, “Okay then. It's now all settled.” He seemed satisfied with his handiwork. Then he slapped his forehead, “I almost forgot to give Sica something,” Donghae muttered out loud. He offered his hand for Jessica to take. They stole themselves away into her room.

Author's note: Did someone just say banana milk?

I saw this in a Korean supermarket the other day: 

Pfft. 

Aren't SNSD the cutest? <3

Yuri is liking it too. <3

Until next time guys!!  Haesica shippers wait for me a little! ;)