“Is that one of those cookie-selling girl scouts?” Jessica asked.

Tiffany opened the door and was welcomed with a bubbly and energetic girl who was shorter than both of them.

“Bonjour Mademoiselles,” the short girl greeted.

“Bon what?” Jessica asked.

“Jessie it’s French. Bonjour. J’mapelle Tiffany,” she greeted with a wide smile and threw in her heart melting eye smile.

“How do you know French? I didn’t know you took up French classes when we were in high school.”

“I went out with this guy and he knows French. He taught me some of the basics.”

The short girl giggled and said, “What did he teach you? The French language or that other French thing?” she winked.

It took some time for Tiffany to get what the other girl meant.

“Oh~ no, no, you see, I taught him that,” Tiffany answered and gave the other girl a wink.

The girl laughed and said, “Nice. Very nice. I’m Kim Taeyeon, by the way. Nice to meet you, Tiffany. And this pretty little lady here is?”

“Excuse me but did you just call me ‘little’? ‘Coz I’m pretty sure you’re shorter than me,” Jessica answered.

“Feisty,” Taeyeon said with a grin.

“She’s Jessica. Jessie, don’t be rude.”

“Whatever and what were you talking about? What other ‘thing’?” she asked the two. It seems like she didn’t catch on the other girl’s joke.

“Nothing,” Tiffany said then turned to Taeyeon, “Don’t mind my sister too much.”

“Oh you’re sisters,” she observed the two beautiful girls in front of her, “You two are definitely winners of some genetic lottery but you don’t look like—“

Jessica cut her off, “Look, we’re stepsisters. Her mom married my dad and FYI short stuff, not all the siblings look like each other. Did you fail Biology or something?”

Taeyeon pouted and creased her eyebrows. I don’t like this blonde so much. I think I made a wrong decision.

Tiffany glared at her sister, “Stop being rude.”

“Whatever. Don’t you have a key for the front door? The Logistics gave us a set of keys,” she asked Taeyeon.

“I do but I misplaced it,” she answered to Jessica then turned to Tiffany, “Are you my roommate? Please tell me you are,” she said, her eyes pleading.

“Well, my room is in 17A.”

“Oh, then please tell me this snob stepsister of yours is not assigned to room 17B.”

Hearing that Jessica’s eye widened, “That’s just GREAT!!” Jessica exclaimed sarcastically.

Tiffany rolled her eyes, “Good thing 17B has three beds then which means you two have another roommate,” she looked at Taeyeon and whispered, “Hopefully that other roommate of yours could calm her down when she throws a tantrum. If not, you could call me and we’ll drug her. Pop some sleeping pills in , yes?” 

Taeyeon nodded and chuckled.

Tiffany just smiled while Jessica glared at the two, “Whatever it is that you whispered to that thing, it better not be about me.”

“Jessie, Jessie, Jessie,” Tiffany said.

“What? Why do you have to say my name three times?”

“Taeyeon, come in,” Tiffany said, ignoring her sister.

Taeyeon left her things at the foyer and proceeded to the living room. She sat down the couch and the other two girls followed.

“So Taeyeon,” Tiffany started, “What are you taking up?”

“Culinary Arts. I love cooking. I also use it to woo a person that I like,” Taeyeon grinned.

“Really? My sister and I can’t cook. Well, we can but the output would cause sickness or death. Maybe you could ‘woo’ my sister with your cooking. She likes to eat.”

“No way, my dad taught me not to accept anything from astranger.”

“Well, I’m sure Uncle Ryan wouldn’t mind if you eat a dish made by a culinary student in this school, Jessie. Besides, we’d all be living under the same roof for four years. I’m sure we could all be friends.”

“First of all, call my dad ‘Dad’. He hates it every time you call him uncle. And I don’t really like her,” Jessica said candidly.

Taeyeon made a face but didn’t dare to speak. Well, I don’t really like you either you freaking snob! I am a fool. Ugh! I can’t even blame anyone. I inflicted this agony upon myself. I guess I’m gonna have to deal with this brutally frank Barbie for four years. Damn it! I shouldn’t have… Aish, forget it!

“You’re being irrational, again. Try knowing her first.”

“I just don’t have a good feeling about her. Something about her seems fishy to me and—“ Jessica wasn’t able to continue what she was saying because there was a knock on the door, “Darn! People who don’t have their keys should just stay outside!”

She stomped her foot and walked towards the door to answer it. When she opened the door, she was greeted by a girl taller than her.

---
 

“Good job, you pig! Now we’re late and we weren’t able to attend the orientation!” the shorter girl out of the two yelled and slammed the car’s door.

“You know, Hyo, when you call me like that it hurts,” the other girl said dramatically, pointing to her chest.

“I’m not buying that, Sooyoung,” she saw the girl on the passenger seat rolling down the windows and lighting a cigarette, “And now you’re going to smoke? What the hell? Put that out or walk all the way to the university.”

“Alright, alright! Geez! I’m just stressed and full from all the food I ate. I just wanted to smoke a cigarette to help me—“

The girl named Hyoyeon cut her off, “Shut it! I don’t want to know about the business you do inside—“

“You mean, doing No. 2?!” Sooyoung said. She was now having a laughing fit after seeing Hyoyeon’s disgusted face.

Kim Hyoyeon and Choi Sooyoung have been best friends even before they started walking. They were playmates and their parents were friends. Kim Hyoyeon, a student who would be taking up Multimedia Arts. Kim Sooyoung, majoring in Software Engineering and Computer Networking. Yes, the girl with a big appetite wanted to have a double major. That’s how good she is so watch out Steve Jobs and Bill Gates.

“Stupid big mouth,” Hyoyeon mumbled.
 

---

“Hi,” the tall girl greeted Jessica with a charming and wide smile.

“Hmm?” Jessica couldn’t think straight. What the heck? I’ve seen pretty girls before. Heck, I see a pretty girl all the time every time I look at the mirror. What am I thinking? Why am I praising myself? Oh no, she’s looking at me like I’m a retard or something. Crap, crap, crap!

“Are you okay? It looks like you’re having some inner battle with yourself,” the girl chuckled, “Is something wrong? Do I owe you money?” the girl continually asked when she didn’t answer.

When she composed herself, she answered the heaps of question that the girl asked her, “Yes, I’m fine and no, you don’t owe me money.”

“Good because there was this one time my friends and I got drunk. It was after our graduation and we got so wasted. We did stupid things. I woke up the next day and my mom was yelling at me. I had money in my pockets and she said I didn’t even bring that amount of money, turns out—“

The voice of the stranger started to be inaudible. Jessica wasn’t even listening anymore. She was just staring at the stranger in front of her who’s smiling and chuckling about her oh-so-interesting story of getting wasted for the first time. 

She’s so pretty. I can’t even look away.

The girl in front of Jessica finished her story and looked at her, “You’re beautiful. You look like you’re having a day dream and your smile’s to die for.”

Jessica couldn’t believe her ears. The goddess in front of her was complimenting her, “Thanks. You’re beautiful, too. Really really beautiful.”

“Thanks. Im Yoona. You are?”

“Jung Jessica. Nice to meet you,” she said while giving a ninety degree bow.

Yoona tilted her head to the left and after a few seconds, she bowed as well, “I’m sorry if I seemed disrespectful. I’m not used to all this. I grew up in the states,” she said as she scratched the back of her head. She then looked up and smiled shyly at the blonde.

Oh, gosh. Please don’t smile like that. You’re so adorable I just want to pinch your—No! Get a grip and don’t be a creeper, Jessica.

“You’re zoning out again, Ms. Jessica.”

“Oh, sorry. No need to address me that way. Jessica’s fine with me,” she smiled.

“Alright. Can I come in?”

Jessica nodded. She felt like an idiot for not inviting her inside. 

“Hey, Jessie who was…” Tiffany paused when she saw Yoona walked towards the living room with her sister in tow, “Hi.”

“Hi, I’m Im Yoona,” she greeted.

The two girls introduced themselves and they all sat down at the living room. They found out that Yoona, like Taeyeon, also misplaced her key for the front door and that she will be rooming with Taeyeon and Jessica. Yoona’s major is Fashion Designing. She loves clothes and other pretty stuffs. She’s from a wealthy family. Sometimes she’d go to cities like Milan and Paris just to shop. Despite the fact that she’s considered a princess because of their family’s status, she’s still down to earth and she doesn’t choose her friends based on whether they are trust fund babies or not.

The four of them sat there and talked with Jessica anticipating another knock on the door but instead of hearing that, they heard the door creaked and voices which seemed like the people who are currently in the foyer are bickering.

“I thank the stars above that you’re not my roommate and I feel sorry for whoever that person is. They are going to have to deal with all your clutter and your smoking habit which by the way could kill you and all of us. Second hand smoking—“

The person’s voice got cut off. Tiffany, Taeyeon, Yoona and Jessica checked out what the ruckus was about. They saw a tall girl covering a shorter girl’s mouth, “People don’t like naggers, Hyo.” She saw the four girls and let go of her hold on her best friend. “Hi. Choi Sooyoung. This is my best friend, Kim Hyoyeon,” she said with a warm smile. She then proceeded to observe the girls in front of her. 

The blonde looks like she’s going to fall asleep while standing up. The tallest among them is smiling like there’s no tomorrow. The shortest looks like a kid, what the hell? I thought we’re in college and now, I have to be housemates with a 6th grader?

She turned her gaze to Tiffany who was all smiles because she saw something of her interest. “I like pink,” Tiffany pointed to the laptop Sooyoung was holding.

Wow! This one’s cute and that eye smile… She was clearly hypnotized.

Her thoughts were interrupted when the girl spoke to her again, “We have the same laptop.”

It was a simple statement but Sooyoung’s mind translated it into something like, ‘I like you. Let’s get married.’ Clearly, Sooyoung was going nuts because of the girl’s smile, no, the picturesque view in front of her named Tiffany Hwang.

The four girls introduced themselves again, one by one. The sisters were getting tired of doing the same thing over and over; they just wished that the rest of their housemates would arrive at the same time to get the introductions over with.

The girls except the sisters went to their respective rooms to put their things there while waiting for the others to come. They checked out all the room and counted the beds. Nine. There would be nine of them staying there.