“Seulggiiii~” Chorim whined over the phone and stomped her feet childishly on Taehyung’s balcony, “What do I do?” Jin had left her in such a predicament ever since she last saw him at the wedding a few days ago. He had been quite forward in his actions and yet, being a man of few words, Chorim was confused as to what she was to him. On one hand, she was sure that she was in but on the other, there was never anything ‘official’. Not that she expected a certificate saying ‘Congratulations, you are now Kim Seokjin’s girlfriend’ but she just needed something. Anything. 
    “I don’t know maybe. Might be tough for him to actually have a girlfriend.” Seulgi said.
“Well, I’m something to him. I know that at least.” Chorim let out a deep sigh and leaned her elbows on the railing. Suddenly, there was a long pause on Seulgi’s side.
    “Okay, you know I love you right?” Seulgi started saying, “I’m saying this as your friend.” Chorim’s ears were keen on listening to the supposed truth bomb Seulgi was about to drop.
    “You’re too easy.”
“Oh gee whiz, thanks girl.” Chorim said, not making an effort to hide that she was offended. Seulgi chuckled on the other end. 
    “Listen. I think you need to play hard to get. There needs to be a bit of push and pull because he’s basically just reeling you in at this rate.”
“Seulgi, he’s probably the hardest person to get. I can’t just start playing ‘hard to get’ when I’m obviously aiming for ‘easy to get’.” Chorim argued back. She turned around and saw Taehyung looking at her from inside but he quickly turned his head and returned to his laptop. 
    “Well, think about it like this. We know the almighty Jin can get whoever he wants right?”
“Yes.”
    “Okay. What’s more desirable than something you can get?”
“Seulgi, I don’t have time for this.”
    “Something you can’t have. Be that something. Make yourself worth it.” 
Chorim couldn’t believe the nonsense she was hearing from Seulgi but went along with it. 
“Alright, say I do that, how? How do I play hard to get when every compliment he gives me makes me want to die of happiness?”
All Chorim could hear was the sound of Seulgi giggling on the other end and her suddenly saying, ‘Yoongi, stop that, I’m on the phone!’ in an cutesy voice.
“Is Yoongi at your place right now...?” Chorim questioned, not liking the idea one bit.
     “Yeah, he’s right next to me.” 
     “Is that Chorim? ANNYEONG CHORIM!” Yoongi yelled from the other end. Chorim had never hung up on someone so quickly before in her life. Push and pull… It was an obvious concept but she wasn’t sure using it against Jin out of all people would be a wise choice. After all, she had put so much effort in to get close to him that purposely distancing herself seemed painfully contradictory. Argh, what do I doooooo??? 

She slid the balcony door open and stepped back inside. Jimin was engrossed in his DS playing games as usual and Taehyung was at his desk, pretending to work when he was just procrastinating on his laptop. 
“I’m going down the street, do you guys want anything?” Chorim grabbed Jimin’s hoodie off the couch and put it on. Her shorts were so short, you could barely see them once she had the oversized hoodie on. She put the hood on and pulled the cord up in an ET-like fashion so that all you could see was her face and glasses. She looked like idiot but she was a comfortable idiot at least. Taehyung spun around on his chair with an annoyed expression to hide his underlying concern for her. You’d think he would be used to Chorim’s spontaneous trips at night by now but these days, they seemed to just make him more uneasy.
“What the hell are you getting at 2am?” He scolded.
“Um, ice cream?” Chorim replied as if it was such an obvious answer. She was already at the door, putting on his oversized sandals. At this time of the night, she literally did not give a about what she was wearing.
“Mango flavour for me please and thank you.” Jimin called out without moving his eyes off the screen. 
“And can I get anything for you, dad?” Chorim said sarcastically with a stupid grin on her face. Taehyung glared at her with curled lips and was about to ignore her when her eyes widened. 
“Wait a minute…” Chorim walked up to Taehyung suddenly and bent over, placing her hands on her knees, until their faces were level. It seemed fine to Chorim but for Taehyung, it was a bit too close for comfort. What the is she doing? His eyes moved rapidly from her pretty eyes which seemed to have a sparkle in them to her soft pink lips, unable to find a spot to concentrate on. She suddenly reached out and ruffled his fringe.
“Your hair sure grows fast,” She straightened up and crossed her arms, “looks like you’re due for another cut.” An evil grin planted itself on her face and she made scissor motions in the air with her fingers. Taehyung scared her off by stretching his leg out and pretending to kick her. He then spun his chair around and returned to his laptop to ignore her antics.
“My hair not growing fast enough is the actual problem.” Taehyung grumbled.
“Can you dye it blonde or something as well? Transform a man, God Chorim.” Jimin randomly chimed in in a monotone all the way from the couch. He never failed to impress Chorim with his ability to be absorbed in games and listen in on conversations at the same time. 
“Ew, I absolutely hate blonde on guys when it’s not natural.” Chorim shuddered and then playfully ruffled Taehyung’s hair from behind. 
“I actually think Taehyung’s natural brown is quite nice.” 
Chorim couldn’t see because he was facing away from her but her comment actually made him smile, even if it was just slightly. Though, his smile quickly faded into irritation when Chorim added “wish his personality was the same” before cackling and running off like a wild child. 

~

It was relatively quiet at the convenience store which was expected at that time of night. Nayeon lazily sat on the stool behind the counter and watched YouTube videos on her phone. The only other person in the store was a guy eating ramen by the window. He hadn’t been much of a bother to Nayeon other than the fact that he was already on his 7th cup of instant ramen with rubbish piling up on the table. She had had a good look at him when he went to the counter before and thought he was cute despite how sluggishly he was dressed. All he was wearing was a big white shirt with black shorts, which suspiciously looked thin enough to be boxers, and white socks of different lengths with black slip-on sandals. The guy slurped up the last piece of ramen, threw his head back and let out a gross satisfied groan. However, his good mood was ruined as soon as he saw the orange stains all over his white shirt from his extravagant feast. He got off the stool he was sitting on, still annoyed by the sight of the stains and wiped his hands on his shorts. Nayeon glared at him from across the store, irritated that he was too lazy to get rid of the rubbish himself and that she would have to clean up after him. 

Chorim casually strolled into the store and was cheerily greeted by Nayeon who recognised her as a regular. They were on friendly terms and knew each other’s names but that was the extent of their relationship. The first time Chorim saw Nayeon, she was in awe by how pretty and cute she looked even with light make-up which made Chorim quite envious. Chorim walked through to the freezer section to browse through the ice cream selection, completely missing the ramen guy who was still in the store, crouched over by the steamer to get some steamed buns out. Nayeon was startled when the guy suddenly threw the two steamed buns onto the counter. Within a matter of seconds since he was out of the store, he had devoured a whole steam bun and his cheeks were puffed out like a chipmunk, busy chewing away. Unfortunately for him, he also clumsily dropped the other steam bun on the ground. He watched in horror as the innocent little bun bounced across the floor, still fully intact. 
“FIFE SHECOND RULE!” He yelled out with bits of food flying out of his mouth and he jumped at the little steam bun.

Without any context whatsoever, Chorim walked out of the store just as the guy was squatting on the ground, picking up the steam bun and desperately patting the dust off of it whilst his mouth was clearly full. The guy slowed down his patting as soon as he sensed someone was watching him and slowly met eyes with Chorim like a deer caught in the headlights. Chorim didn’t know how to react to him staring back at her with his wild brown eyes but she also spotted the orange stains on his T-shirt and felt pity for him. Times are tough, hey? There was a painful silence in the air as the two of them had an awkward staring competition in front of the convenience store. To the guy, Chorim was some weird chick who looked like E.T with an icy pole hanging out of . To Chorim, he was, without a doubt, a hungry homeless person.

~

Namjoon let out a loud sigh that was begging for attention whilst he sat in the passenger seat of Jin’s car. Jin stopped at the red light and took a deep breath, already feeling the regret from what he was about to ask.
“What’s wrong?” 
“Nah, nah, it’s nothing.” Namjoon melancholically looked out of the window. Jin was already staring at him from the side. Three, two, one…
“Okay, but how could she not know who I was?” Namjoon burst out, turning to directly face Jin. There we go.
“Is this about Chi from the wedding again?” The car was moving again and Jin’s eyes were on the road.
“Yeah. Unbelievable, right?”
“Yes, absolutely unbelievable.” Jin said sarcastically which Namjoon was too oblivious and self-absorbed to pick up on.
“That damn girl…” Namjoon said with a burning vengeance in his eyes. The car suddenly swerved to the side on the road, scaring the sh*t out of him.
“Jin, what the !?”
Namjoon waited for an answer from Jin who had a very tense look in his eye, turned his head for a millisecond to make eye contact with Namjoon, and then said very seriously, “Sorry, I just thought I saw Chorim walking on the pathway and panicked.”
“Wow, can’t believe I nearly died because you’re such a love-struck idiot. Go back and pick her up!” Namjoon turned his head to the rear to see if it was actually Chorim or not.
“I can’t.” 
“What on...what do you mean you can’t? I’m confused. Didn’t you say things went well at the wedding?” Namjoon was utterly perplexed by the logic at play. 
“That’s what I thought,” Jin said in a frank manner, “but I don’t know now. She’s been acting a bit distant ever since, I’m not sure why.” 
“Ah, Kim Seokjin. So innocent. So naive.” Namjoon let out an arrogant chuckle which only pissed Jin off, “Welcome to the game of push and pull, my friend.” 

~

I wish I could just stay in bed… Chorim was on her way to the campus for an early morning lecture. She had her hands tucked in the pockets of her retro denim jacket and was casually strolling down the street, not in any rush. She was already late anyway. She heard a guy talking as she was coming around the corner.
    ‘...really cold...don’t have a place to stay…’  
On the other side of the corner, sitting on the curb was a familiar face she did not want to see.
Ah, sh*t, it’s that Mingyu kid. Alright, let’s turn back around and… Unfortunately for her, Mingyu spotted her when he turned back briefly and was not going to let her go so easily.
“Nuna!” Mingyu chirped. He stood up and enthusiastically waved at her with a dashing grin. She sheepishly waved back although not with quite as much energy. It wasn’t that she didn’t like him (even if she did have a bit of a grudge because he called her homeless) but it was more the fact that he had too much power over her even if he wasn’t conniving enough as a person to realise it. 
“Where are you heading?” He asked her. He was in his well-fitted school uniform which Chorim recognised from the first time they met. Shouldn’t he be in class at this time…?
“I’m off to a lecture…” Chorim tried her best to not come across as defensive. Her eyes were naturally drawn to the person who was getting up from the curb behind Mingyu. She immediately recognised him as the homeless steam bun guy and thanks to her ridiculous E.T get-up that night, the friend didn’t recognise her at all and thought they were meeting for the first time. In the daylight, she could see his face more clearly, especially with his hair out of the way. He wasn’t dressed any better than the first time she saw him - ripped jeans with holes she didn’t think were for fashion, black thongs, a wrinkly black shirt and a black beanie. Beanie and thongs combo, looks like me at 2am. The thing that caught Chorim off guard the most was how tall he was now that she saw him standing up. Mingyu was taller by a few centimetres but his friend was still tall enough to tower over the petite Chorim who was wearing ballet flats instead of the usual heels. 
“Oh sorry, this is my friend...” Chorim could tell that Mingyu was suddenly very anxious by the way his eyes moved side to side, “...John.”
Chorim raised a brow at him and then glanced over at his friend who seemed as equally as confused as she was. His friend definitely had a ‘what the ?’ expression on his face upon hearing Mingyu. Maybe they’re not friends. Maybe Mingyu was just passing by and wanted to talk to a homeless guy...that seems like something he would do...
“John.” Chorim’s tone was flat because she couldn’t decide between stating the name or questioning it.  
“Yep.” Mingyu nodded and patted his friend’s back who reluctantly greeted Chorim with a slight bow. A bit standoffish, isn’t he? 
“And John, this is Chorim, a weird nuna I met.” Weird nuna…!?
Chorim contained her irritation and sweetly smiled at his friend ‘John’ who remained aloof. 
“Well, I’ll just be on my way then. Have fun.” Chorim politely waved at them and then speedily walked away, almost as if she was trying to escape from them. 
“I’ll see you around, Chorim!” Mingyu cried out loud from behind her. No thank you…
When she was quite a distance away from them, she turned her head and saw the two of them sitting back down on the curb and Mingyu patting “John’s” back. Wow, that Mingyu kid really likes to help the homeless, doesn’t he? 

~

“John? Seriously? John?” His friend knotted his eyebrows together, baffled by the random English name.
“Dude, sorry. I was about to say your name but decided not to.” Mingyu explained, sitting back down on the curb.
“Why?”
“That girl...I think she’s good friends with Namjoon and Jin. With Namjoon, for sure but I only heard her mention Jin briefly. Plus, she was at Bora’s wedding.”
His friend took another look at Chorim who was already on her way and then turned back to Mingyu. 
“Are you sure? I don’t recognise her at all.”
“Well, sorry for trying to help you out.” Mingyu half-rolled his eyes at how ungrateful his friend was before continuing on, “Anyway, then what happened?” His friend took a few seconds to recall what they were talking about before Chorim interrupted them.
“Oh, right. So that girl who offered me a place to stay? Turns out she was the girlfriend of some crazy gangster. I was just changing when he barged into her apartment and went ing berserk so I had to run out of the place topless like some sort of *rted criminal. Do you know how ing scary it is to have a mob chasing after you at night?”
Mingyu laughed out loud at his friend’s misery and shook his head with disbelief. This wasn’t the first time he had heard such stories from his friend.
“Well, my offer still stands. Always welcome to just camp at my place. Or maybe I can rent out an apartment for you under my name.” Mingyu shrugged.
“Hah, it’s not like Namjoon is watching you like a hawk or anything, right?” His friend’s words were heavy with sarcasm. Mingyu started chewing on his nails deep in thought before abruptly snapping his fingers in the air.
“Hotels.” Mingyu exclaimed, thinking it was a brilliant idea.
“Pretty sure 90% of hotels in the city are owned by the HOPE group.”
“Yeah, good point…” Mingyu's voice trailed off, “So...what are you going to do now?”
“I don't know, Mingyu. I dont ing know.”
 

A/N: lol john