Sumi believes first impressions trigger destiny. 

They are the first domino in a serie of events and opportunities. 

First impressions are not just important, they are everything. Sometimes it's just a matter of seconds, sometimes all it takes is a quick glance, and yet, it counts. Because within this small fraction of a second, people will grasp everything and anything they can. They notice, wonder, assume, judge and act upon the small details they were given. Everything depends on the first impression. Everything happens because of that first impression. 

You have to place that first domino correctly and carefully. Misplace the first one and you can be sure the rest of them won't fall properly. Even once you have realised your mistake, the fall has already started. You cannot go back in time, you cannot freeze the flying seconds to set things right. All you can do is watch the fall and hope for the best. That's why the first impression is so important. Because it's something you can never correct.

There are some basic tips to nail them. Some rules to get through a first meeting smoothly. Smile. Smile wide. Smile until your cheeks hurt. But don't smile too much. Don't smile too bright. Don't show so many teeth. It would make you look naive, it would make you look stupid. You don't want people to think you're stupid, don't you? Same goes for clothes. Dress nicely but don't try to be bold or extravagant. Don't make a show out of it. But don't be boring either. People hate boring.  First impressions are difficult. You have to be yourself, and yet, be fickle.

Sumi thinks that, if all it takes is one second to change your life, then all it takes is one second to also mess it up.

So when Sumi moves to the big city, to the energetic, bright and restless Seoul, she knows she will have to excel. She will have to do her very best. City people are hard to impress, hard to reach. They are busy, always moving, constantly in a hurry. They jump from one thing to another, they never really pay attention. They're never quite here, already on their way to somewhere else. To something more exciting. To meet people more fascinating. They won't give her a second chance, so she has to impress them now or possibly regret it forever.

She moves in a cosy district where coffee shops are never too far and the smell of freshly baked pastries floats in the air early in the morning. Her building is quite old, the elevator makes scary noises when it moves. It's not the flat of her dreams, but it's a start. The rent is cheap, the view enjoyable and she even has a balcony. She might come to like it with time. She might come to call it "home" one day. 

She decides to meet her neighbors as soon as possible. She can't take the risk to meet them for the first time on a Sunday morning while she's taking her trash out wearing an old stained sweatshirt and some unflattering yoga pants. This cannot happen. Her new serie of dominoes can't start their fall like that. She has to be prepared, she has to be in control. 

Sumi only has one neighbor living on the same floor as her. She decided to meet them first before meeting those living on different floors. She gathers the courage to press their doorbell with shaky fingers on a late Thursday afternoon. Nervousness starts to weight down on her chest as soon as she hears the buzz. She breathes slowly, fixing her hair one last time. She can't mess it up. She can't mess it up. She can't mess it up. The bell echoes in the empty hallway and her grip tightens around the bouquet she has brought. The flowers were her Mom's idea. Everything is her Moim's idea when she comes to think about it.

She wonders what her neighbors look like, what story is living behind the door. Is it an elderly couple? A big family with new-born twins? Some new girl in town from the country, just like her? Sumi wonders in the span of the seconds it takes for the buzz's echo to fade away. If she places her first domino well, she may make some friends. 

Sumi looks around, waiting for her neighbors to eventually come and open the door. The metallic plate says "Kim", the damaged doormat "GTFO". Her eyebrows furrow slightly.  She waits in silence, counting the seconds passing by. She rings the bell again after counting 12. Maybe they didn't hear it. Maybe they aren't home yet. Maybe she should try again later. Her finger presses the doorbell one last time, the buzz echoing a little longer this time. No one opens the door, there's not a sound to be heard.
Sumi's about to go back to her own flat when the door opens and a ball of messy hair slips through the crack. Oh, so it turns out "Kim" is a guy. Sumi has the feeling that he's living on his own.

    "Mmyeah ?" The voice is husky as if he has just woken up.

Sumi bows down, prepared speech on the tip of her tongue and ready to be delivered. Her lips curl into an effortlessly polite smile as she stands back up and looks for eyes under the mess of dark hair.

    "Very nice to me meet you !" Her voice flows like honey. This might be easier than she has thought. "I am your ne-"
    "Not interested." The guy yawns. 

And just like that, he closes the door.

    "... What ?"  Sumi blinks.

Sumi's forced smile vanishes in the air, her eyebrows furrow in confusion. She stares at the wood door and then at the flowers in her hand, speechless. There must have been some sort of misunderstanding. Somehow. Her index reaches the doorbell as she starts to nimble her bottom lip. The door flings wide open the next second. 

The man runs a hand in his messy hair, revealing his face and piercing dark eyes. With a sigh, Kim fishes something in the pocket of his loose sweatpants. Sumi looks at him taking a cigarette out pocket and tucking it between his lips after tapping it three times on the back of the packet.

    "Want one ?" He asks, stuffing the packet back to where it was without waiting for her answer.

She shakes her head. He lights it up with a lighter found on his back-pocket and then takes out the cigarette from his plump lips to casually blow smoke right to Sumi's face. 

    "Look, kiddo." The guy sighs, hardly hiding his exasperation. "I'm not interested in whatever you have to sell." 
    "But I'm not selling any-" Sumi protests, feeling the situation slipping out of her hands.

She tries to not panic, she tries to stay calm, to stay focused, to stay polite and to stay sweet. But her heartbeats are increasing and she's too confused. This is not how the script is supposed to be played.

    "Lemme guess," He cuts her off, leaning against the doorframe. The cigarette is bouncing against his lower lip. "Red Cross? Jehovah's witnesses?"

He glances at her from head to toe with boredom. As if this isn't the first time he is put in this situation. Sumi has trouble to keep her polite smile in place. He snorts.

    "Uh... none ?" She answers. The guy crosses his arms, unconvinced. "Because I'm actu-"
    "You seem to old to be a girl scout though." The guy declares, his head tilting to the side as his eyes narrow. 

Sumi pinches her lips, momentarily giving up the courteous attitude. This is not working. She lets his stare slides on her neighbor and wonders why she even bothers. For a first presentation, this guy was making a hell of a one too. Hair all messy and stained t-shirt badly tucked in his sweatpants. And to say she had prepared herself for this. 

    "I'm... I'm your new neighbor, Sumi Han." She manages to says. "Nice to meet you." 

Her voice isn't as soft as her manners request it be to, her smile not as spontaneous and wide as she usually performs them. But that's all she can do under those unexpected circumstances. This guy raises his eyebrow, surprised. The corner of his lips curls into a smirk, as if she just said something amusing.

    "Ah, so the fat guy finally moved out ?" 

Sumi nodds even though she has no idea what he's talking about. She just wants to give him the bouquet, go home and possibly never see him again. She wants all of this to come to an end. That guy is rude. That guy is her nightmare. There's no need to place any domino here.
    
    "That bastard didn't even say goodbye." Kim thoughtfully inhales smoke coming out of his cigarette. He doesn't sound disappointed though.

Sumi somehow understands why, whoever the "fat guy" may be, he didn't bother saying goodbye. Kim is very unpleasant. Her neighbor's gaze slides on her and he suddently snaps.

    "What's with the cheap bouquet then ?" He indicates the flowers with his head. 

Sumi looks at the the bouquet she had bought specifically for this occasion. For him. The thought of not giving it to him crosses her mind.

    "It's hum..." She mumbles, trying to not take it personally. This boy obviously has no manners whatsoever. "It's a gift for you."

His eyebrow rises a little higher.

    " A gift ?"

He grabs the bouquet from her hands and glazes curiously at the mix of red and yellow flowers. 

    "Cool." He  simply says, a smirking hanging by the corner of his lips.

Then silence sets up. Sumi awkwardly balances her weight from one feet to the other, while his neighbour is just kind of there. She doesn't know what to say or how to keep the conversation go on. Not that she actually wants to. Usually people invite the person in at this point, suggesting coffee or tea before rumbling about the neighborhood and bla bla bla. But Kim doesn't seem to be the type of neighbord to invite her to chit-chat about the price of property around a warm cup of tea. He is just there, smoking and staring at her in a way she doesn't quite like. Like she's some curious animal. Like she's a child even though he looks about the same age as her. She knows offering flowers on a first meeting is a little over the top. She regrets it now. But what is done is done, and it is time to go home. She has done her duty. She has introduced herself, gave a nice bouquet and deserves her rest.

"So...That's it ?" He asks, breaking the suffocating silence.
"Uh, yes. That's it." Sumi awardkly smiles, clasping her hands together. "I just came to introduce myself."
"Then see ya around." He nodds, a hand already on the doornob, ready to shut the door.
"See you..." 

Her neighbor closes the door.

"...around."

________

 "You were so right," Sumi groans, slamming  the bay window behind her as she steps on her balcony. "People here are such s." 

 "Watch your language, young girl." The familiar voice scolds her through the phone.

"Sorry Mom." Sumi rolls her eyes, not sorry at all.

The fresh wind is caressing her cheeks, cooling her anger. It feels nice. Her fingers curl around the iron fence of the balcony as she looks at the empty children's playground in front of her building. Sumi sighs. 

    "So what happened, honey?" 
    "My neighbor is a rude " She shruggs, not knowing how to put it in other words. "I was trying so hard to be polite and nice, like you taught me, and he ju-"
"Did you give him the flowers like I told you ?" Her mom cuts her off. Sumi can hear the blame in her voice.
    "Yes, I did." She closes her eyes.
    "Did you introduce yourself properly then ?"
    "Yes, Mom, I did everything you told me to do!" She replies a little too agressively. She already knows where this conversation is going and honestly she's too tired for this. Sumi wants empathy and a hug. Not remarks and false assumptions.

Her Mom stays silent and Sumi instantly feels bad. It's not her fault if Kim happens to be some rude idiot. There's not need to be so angry. Besides, Sumi knows it's hard for her mom to see her move to a new, big and scary city. She just wants her daughter to suceed. She's just trying to help. 

    "Let's hope people at work will be nicer." Sumi changes the subject, not in the mood to fight.
    "I'm sure they will, honey." Her mom softens. Sumi can hear her dad speaking in the background. "When do you start exactly ?"
    "Tomorrow." 
    "Then let's focus on this. Stay positive, honey."

Sumi wants to agree. It's going to be fine. Not everyone here is as rude and offensive as that damn Mr. Kim living next door. It's going to be ok. Everything is going to be perfectly ok.

Sumi hangs up quickly after that. It's getting cold. The tip of her fingers is numb. She turns around, about to head back inside. All she needs at this point is a huge cup of chocolate milk and cookies. She also has to plan her outfit for tomorrow. She will meet a lot of new people and she has to give the best first impression ever. Important dominoes will have to be placed. 
Her hand grabs the doornob. She struggles a little to open the window bay and  when finally she manages to open it completely, she suddenly freezes. Her eyes dart to the right.

"."

Casually leaning his back against the fence of his own balcony was her neighbor facing her, his eyes darted into hers.

    "Oh, hi !" Sumi exclaims, panic and heat rising to her burning cheeks. Her heart is beating hard, her palm feels sweaty against the doornob. She tries to ignore it all.

. . .

She has no idea when he got there. Maybe there was a tiny, tiny, tiny chance that he didn't hear her conversation. Sumi likes to believe in small possibilities.
Her neighbor stays still. He doesn't say anything. Smoke slowly escapes from the end of his cigarette as he looks at Sumi with was she thinks is a amusement. She can feel his gaze silently sliding on her and she doesn't like it. She's afraid he might read what she thinks of him on the blush spreading accross her cheeks.

"We have a really nice view here, don't you think ?" Her voice is too high-pitched, her laugh forced and her eyes landing everywhere except on him.  "It's so green. It reminds me of my hometown. There were a lot of trees too. Like really big trees with lots of leaves. Trees are nice. I love trees."

Her neighbor cracks a smile and Sumi wonders if it's working. If floods of words can drown someone. If they can numb the mind. If they can also erase the last five minutes from one's memory.

"So you start work tomorrow ?" He interupts her, bringing his cigarette to his mouth, the amused smirk never leaving his lips.

"Uh... Yes, I do." Sumi frowns, not remembering mentioning her job to him earlier. 

The guy slowly took a drag of his cigarette before throwing it over the fence. He then walks towards the door of his balcony and stops once he reaches Sumi's level. 

    "I forgot to say something earlier." He says, a cloud of smoke escaping from his lips. "Welcome in the neighborhood"

Sumi blinks a couple times, not sure to understand how the conversation just flew. She watches him step inside his flat and close the window bay behind him.  How does he knows...? 

Several seconds fly and she gasps once it finally hits her. Shame is digging a hole in her stomach. She feels so bad it almost hurt. 
 
If she had always be told that first impression were key, Sumi learned that day to never, never, never screw the second ones.

________________________

[Author's Note] Hello everyone ! It's been a while, I hope you're all doing well ! (◍•ᴗ•◍)

Thank you so much to all of you who subscribed/upvoted/commented on the story ♥ You guys are the best ! I hope this first (uneventful) chapter wasn't too disappointing. I know I'm not writing in my "usual style" and I don't know if I like this one or not. We'll see, we'll see. Feel free to tell me your impressions.

Also, because I'm a total noob with describing architecture in a way that makes it clear (???), I drew you this masterpiece to show you what I was struggling to explain about how the balconys are connected. I don't even know if the drawing makes it clearer (???). Anyway, I'm already working on the next chapter so hopefully I'll talk to you soon ♡