That morning, drizzle poured upon Gwangju city and successfully turned the humid summer air into a chilly breeze. Joohyuk’s room felt colder, making it 3000 times more comfortable for him to snore away in his deep sleep. It became no wonder that Joohyuk found it very hard to open his eyes, unknowingly passed his alarm that’s been ringing from 28 minutes before. Who’s to blame when the rainy weather comes striking in the morning? No one.

With one of his legs tangled on the blanket, he sprung freely on the bed in peace as if he's enjoying the bed so much without having to play kick with his bedmates like he used to be, though sometimes he would miss sleeping on the same bed with his siblings. It’d also been forever since the last time he slept home since he’d been staying in the dormitory all along, though the distance between his house and the campus only took about 15 minutes or so. His parents wanted him to taste the bitterness of living alone, considering that he’s already in his 20s. For that reason, they signed him up to the campus’ dormitory.

They’d grown sick having him lingering along with nothing to do in the house while his triplet twins, Baekhyun and Jisoo, had long gone to chase after their dream in the metropolitan city the moment they graduated from high school. Not that his parents despise them, which they love each of those rascals very much, but that’s just the way they decided to raise the triplets and the older sister. They realized the kids were not born silver spoons, hence it’s better to teach them independence as early as possible. Besides, his parents had not enough hands to take care of the four children all on their own while having to work their life off to feed them properly. Therefore, they’re excited to know that Joohyuk’s finally going to have a taste of real-life out there in Seoul. 

“NAM JOOHYUK! WAKE UP!!!” Joohyuk jumped on his bed along with his mother’s constant slaps on his thigh, trying to wake up his third son for how many times she couldn’t recall. Joohyuk’s supposed to shower already as the clock already strikes 8.34 am but in reality, he's still sleeping soundly like a little child.

Wincing in pain, he kicked his legs in the air and whined. “Five more minutes, Mom~~~~~” he cried but still with his eyes closed. No matter how cute Joohyuk acted at the time, she’s not Ra Miran if she gives up. Instead of playing along with the classic five-more-minutes crap, she literally dragged Joohyuk off the bed towards the bathroom. As much extreme as the scene looks, this is just how Nam’s household runs their lives.

“Now get a shower before I decided to come in and bathe you myself!” she threw her son–literally– inside the bathroom and held onto the knob to prevent him from coming out of the bathroom without showering. Nobody is joking when they said Ra Miran is a strong mother, though her body figure looks ordinary with no built whatsoever. Living the life of a market lady teaches her how to be strong, even with tens kilograms of boxes on her hand. 

Joohyuk might be whining here and there but slowly, everyone could hear the sound of water pouring from inside the bathroom. The dramatic sound of Joohyuk whining and shrieking to the pinch of cold water on a rainy morning to singing loudly accompanied his shower time, long enough for Miran to make sure that the bratty Joohyuk had already done showering inside.

“Quickly have breakfast after you get dressed! Your bus is leaving at 10 am,” she finally let go of the doorknob and left toward the kitchen where she left her cooking halfway. 

Joohyuk came out of the bathroom looking like a whole different person compared to the one he came in with. He’s now grinning here and there in excitement after he realized halfway through the shower that it’s already the long-awaited Friday where he would depart to Seoul and start a life as an adult, even though it’s just for a six months internship. Let's just call it adulthood training. 

Truth be told, the internship itself didn’t really excite him but the fact that he'd be living with his best friends, Winter especially, was the actual main reason for all the smiles he put. Even so, he’s still grateful that his father could land him help from an acquaintance who worked in the actor agency, SOOP. His father was an actor in the past but never made it big due to the politics in the industry, though his filmography is enough to create a lengthy Wikipedia page for his name and his acting is considered as great quality. The fact that he made it to Wikipedia was enough for him to stop whatever it was he’s doing in the movie industry and stirred his life into a restaurant owner. Nevertheless, Nam Jungse is still that daddy-goal every household could wish for, thanks to his cool and fun personality even though he’s weird most of the time.

Joohyuk dressed up in his comfortable stripe t-shirt and pair of shorts that screams summer outfit while humming nonstop. Going through his two suitcases once again, he bid a little-bit-too-exciting goodbye to his room–he was even waving to the air and made a useless farewell speech–before going to the living room. His father was there in his usual position with a newspaper in his hand, while his mother’s busy preparing the breakfast that looked quite different from the usual daily side dishes they had.

“What’s gotten into her?” Joohyuk scratched his nape out of confusion in a blank expression. “What’s with the seafood soybean paste in the morning? Where's the usual careless fried eggs, bland kimchi, salty egg rolls, and my lovely seaweed? Dad, am I in the wrong house?”

“Isn’t your girlfriend coming over this morning? She's cooking for her,” Jungse sipped his coffee–a little bit too exaggeratedly in the act–without sparing a glance to Joohyuk to notice that his son almost choked in shock.

“Girlfriend???” Joohyuk gasped. As far as he remembers, he’s currently not dating or loving anyone except for crushing one-sidedly over Winter. The last time he’s dating, which was four months ago, he never said a word to his family since he’s just playing around at the time. He’s not even sure if he could call her a girlfriend back then. 

Jungse smirked dramatically as if the camera’s rolling on him, making Joohyuk rolled his eyes. It’s true that his father had retired from being a supporting role in movies and dramas but he just couldn’t stop playing around with his persona that oftentimes makes his family cringe. Because really, it’s very cringeworthy and unnecessary. “I thought I raised you well, Nam Joohyuk. What kind of man will ever let his girlfriend come to pick him up on such a romantic rainy morning?” 

“I know I’m handsome and seems fairly impossible to be single but currently, I don’t even have a girlf–” he paused, only to realize where this conversation’s going. “Ah! You mean Winter? She’s not my girlfriend, Dad, Mom. Don’t give your hopes high– ACK!” 

He squeaked in a high pitch when his mother suddenly slapped him on the back. “Mom! It hurts!” 

“If she’s not your girlfriend then make her your girlfriend! I heard she’s a pretty kid! I want her registered as my family,” she nagged as she brought Joohyuk over to the dining table and begin serving his breakfast. She might be the typical nagging mother that sometimes says things she doesn’t even mean, so does doing something she doesn’t even intend, but her love for all the children is countless. 

“Yes… She’s pretty. There are many pretty girls in Gwangju though,” Joohyuk replied nonchalantly as he began digging into the soup. “Wow! My mom really made the best… salty dish. Mom, it’s salty,” he whined. 

Miran slapped his back–again. “Be grateful and eat your food.” 

Joohyuk just chuckled while making a cute, scrunching face at Miran. She couldn’t help but smile at the sight. “Stop acting cute. Aigoo, you’re so pretty, my son,” she said as she poured hot water onto Joohyuk’s bowl to make the soup less salty. 

“So, you don’t like her?” his father asked as he began eating his portion, of course after adding quite an amount of water to his soup since he didn’t want this blood pressure to rise high up. 

“I like her,” Joohyuk casually answered while munching all sorts of dishes his mother handed him. “But she rejected me twice so for now it’s still a one-sided love,” he continued a bit too nonchalantly as if he’s giving up his destiny. 

“Yah, if I were her, I would say no to you too– Omo, I realized we just started eating before she comes. I haven't even prepared her plates!” his mother stood up and took some plates for Winter to use when she arrives later. 

“What kind of mother says no to his own son?” Joohyuk pretended to be in shock. “I’m a handsome kid!” 

“But you’re a brat,” she replied almost immediately with no slight of doubt in her face. She even managed to put her straight face as usual. “I heard good things about her from Baekhyun. She sounds like someone I would love to have as my daughter-in-law."

Joohyuk wriggled his eyebrows in response. “Aye~~~ Do you think I can make her my wife one day?” 

“Of course! Even though everything about you is hopeless right now, I believe you’ll grow into a fine man one day,” she exclaimed. “You’ll beat those handsome actors I see every evening on the TV. What’s his name again? Kim Yoo Hyun or something.”

“Mom, don’t worry. I’ll make it big one day and takes over all the drama and movie in the country! You know how much Kim Soo Hyun’s rate per episode? 200.000.000 won per episode, right? This handsome sone of yours will make it 500.000.000! By the way, it's Kim Soo Hyun, Mom."

Miran couldn’t help but slap his shoulder several times in contentment. “That’s my son! But make sure to achieve that before too much inflation and making everything worthless."

They continued their breakfast with a little chit chat and halfway through their meal, Winter called to tell him that she’s already outside. He invited her in and his parents looked obviously a bit too happy to see Winter. It’s true that there are many pretty girls in the city, but Winter has an adorable personality and gestures that make her even more charming to their eyes. 

“I hope you haven’t eaten anything yet,” Miran’s straight face suddenly beamed the whole time upon Winter’s arrival. Not knowing what happened at the time, Winter tried to go along with their excessive kindness. 

“No, I haven’t! Thank you so much, Omoni. It looks delicious,” Winter replied to her politely. She’s startled when Miran began scooping a spoonful of rice for her. She stood up and took the bowl politely from her. “Let me do it. You can continue eating, Omoni. I don’t want to burden you.” 

Miran smiled at her and sat back with her eyes watching Winter taking care of her own meal. “Joohyuk, isn’t she so wife material? She’s even better than me at preparing food.”

Joohyuk stared at his mother in disbelief. “Mom! She’s just preparing her own food for God’s sake. Even a 5-years old can do this on her own!”

Miran secretly sent an ice dagger into Joohyuk’s eyes. “Shut up. You couldn’t prepare your own food until you’re 7.”

Winter just chuckled lightly at her response as she sat back on her seat. As she began digging the soup, Miran stopped her. “Wait! At some water first.”

“It’s salty,” Joohyuk whispered in a loud voice intentionally, loud enough for his parents to hear. “My mom isn’t that much of a good cook,” he joked. 

“It’s okay. I love salty food,” Winter said as she began tasting the soup. “What’s wrong with you, Joohyuk? It’s tasty! You have such poor tastebud.”

Miran sheepishly smiled. “Look at her complimenting my salty food and pretend as if she likes it. I like you already!” 

Winter looked quite flustered because it’s true that she loves salty food, not even an ounce of her was pretending. All these times, she didn’t even have her courage to check on her blood pressure seeing how much amount of salty and savory food she’s swallowed her entire life. 

“Eat a lot, Winter,” his father said with a smile. “You’re so tiny. When you arrived, I thought a fairy is coming to my house.”

“I eat surprisingly a lot, compared to how tiny my body looks,” Winter replied shyly. “Joohyuk knows how much I eat.” 

Joohyuk nodded excessively. “That’s right! Woah, this girl. There’s this other friend of ours, Yuna, who also eats a lot. That’s why I rarely treat them meals because of how much they eat. I can’t afford it. I can’t. The way they eat scares me."

“It’s okay, Winter. I’ll make sure he’s paying your meal at least twice a week,” his father added, making Winter giggled. “Are you going with just the two of you? Aren’t you going to stay with your other friends?” 

“Yes. They already headed to Seoul yesterday to settle everything with the landlord. I had to stay back for some paperwork so Joohyuk decided to go with me today,” Winter responded. 

“How fun it is~ Living with your best friends,” Miran said. “I hope you’ll make a great memory together in Seoul.” 

“Then you should give me more allowance to allow me live comfortably,” Joohyuk jokingly added only to gain another slap from his mother on the shoulder. 

“Aigoo, God. I’m so loved in this house that I have already lost counts at how many times my mother slapped me this morning,” he sarcastically added, making Winter giggled all over again to his playful behavior. 

Not long after they finished breakfast, right after Joohyuk checking over the suitcases once again and Winter helping out Miran to clean up, they departed to the bus station with a cab. Luckily, they weren’t late and able to sit down awhile to grab some food on-the-go. While waiting for the gate to open, Winter finally noticed how much stuff Joohyuk brought which was so unlike him who’s very simple and compact. “What’s this? Why are you bringing two big- suitcases?”

Joohyuk proudly opened one of the suitcases and bragged when he showed her a pillow, a huge fluffy bed cover, and squishy neck pillows on top. “Tada!!!” 

Winter, on the other hand, just stared at him judgingly. “Do you really have to carry your own pillow and bed cover from Gwangju? So that you don't have to buy anything in Seoul?” 

“No– Well, that’s also part of the plan. I’d rather use the money to buy some beers or rice puffs. But anyway! The main reason why I’m bringing this load of burden is for you. Tada!!!” he repeated again, looking even more excited this time.

“For me?” Winter thought she heard him wrong. “My family freaking live in Seoul. Why would I need all of these?” 

“Watch me.” 

After waiting for about 10 minutes, the bus finally arrived at the gate to let the passengers came in. Looking slightly pissed, Winter dragged two suitcases–one of them was Joohyuk’s as he forced her to take it with her for what he's about to do to her–to the bus while Joohyuk carried a huge load of pillows and blanket with a suitcase in his other hand. The moment they got on the bus, Joohyuk stopped Winter from seating and displayed the pillows and blanket on her seat. It looked stuffy, but somehow it looked comfortable. 

“Four hours is a long road to go. I know you didn’t sleep much last night so I made a seating-bed for you! Looks like a premium bus seat, right?” Joohyuk presented his bus masterpiece in proudness. Meanwhile, Winter’s looking confused as ever. 

“Now that it’s filled with all of these… Where do I sit?” she asked in a calm tone, but looking quite annoyed at his antic way of thinking. It’s when Joohyuk realized that there’s barely half portion of the seat that’s left, so he decided to ditch his masterplan and threw all the stuff onto the floor. 

Winter finally sat down and looked a bit uncomfortable because the feet area’s now packed with pillows and bed cover. She had to take off her shoes and slipped them under the seat, sat with her feet crossed, while Joohyuk looked very comfortable on his seat. “I don’t know what to do with you, Nam Joo Hyuk.” 

Joohyuk just grinned and pinched her nose. “But now everything is fluffy on your side! Now, sleep.” 

Winter wanted to spat some nagging to him, but she knew he meant good with all of these. Besides, it’s true that Winter loves her bed to be stuffed with pillows, bolsters, and bed covers as she loves the cold and tingling sensation on the surface and cranny of it. “Okay, you win. Now, I’m flattered with all of these.” 

“I know you can’t resist me,” Joohyuk winked at her. “Do you need oppa’s shoulder to lean on?” 

“Oppa my ,” she rolled her eyes. “Be grateful that I didn’t throw you off this bus and take your seat on your behalf.”

Instead of replying, Joohyuk just stared at her dearly with a little playful smile on his face. “Yes, yes. I love you too.”

“God, help me,” Winter whined and began finding a comfortable position to sleep, not wanting to play along with Joohyuk’s silliness any longer. As the bus set off, she still couldn’t find a proper way to sleep. Realizing that she’s still moving in her place, Joohyuk lifted off the seater’s armrest to get rid of the partition between them and offer his lap to her. 

“Here. Just lay down on my lap,” he said as he moved Winter’s body to help her lie down. She comfortably adjusted her head and mentally thanked God for her petite figure that fitted the narrow bus seat. 

“Good night, Nam Joo Hyuk,” Winter whispered as she drifted off to her sleep.

Joohyuk adjusted the window’s shade to avoid the sunlight bothering her in her sleep. As he heard her faint purring, he couldn’t help but smile like a fool at her. She must’ve had a good meal at his home before that she felt full enough to sleep comfortably. Just like this, he knew he would have a great next four hours to stare fondly at her lovely face until the bus enters the land of his dream and her nightmare, Seoul. But only thirty minutes after the bus departed, Joohyuk ended up sleeping instead.

 

---

 

Yuna clapped herself for all she did to the kitchen that now looks pleasingly aesthetic. When they first arrived yesterday, the kitchen looked somehow dull and dirty which didn’t please her in any way. Living as a valid Marie Kondo worshipper, she couldn’t help to think about the kitchen even throughout the administration. The moment they met the owner, the first thing Yuna brought up was whether or not she’s allowed to customized and polished the kitchen, in which the owner agreed happily. That’s why, the moment they handed the apartment kitchen, Yuna immediately dragged Chanyeol all the way to Daiso, the heaven to cheap household utilities, to buy everything she needed to save her near-OCD syndrome to the rescue. That’s also how Yuna spent almost half of her monthly allowance without thinking further about how she’d survive the next 30 days with the remaining money she had. Talking about Chanyeol, he’s there not merely as a friend, but a housemate to Winter, Yuna, and Joohyuk. Winter’s idea before was to invite Chanyeol to live with them, knowing that the more people there are, the lesser the money had to be spent. The moment Yuna called her to sound the idea, it didn't take him twice to say yes. Besides, he hadn't yet found a place to live in Seoul at the moment. That's how the four of them ended up being a roommate in a two bedrooms apartment with a living room, a kitchen, a dining table for two, and only one bathroom. 

The Marie Kondo slash Mary Poppins successor continued arranging the living room with no rest and only stopped when Winter called to inform that she’d safely arrived in front of the building. 

“But I’m busy…” the unstoppable Yuna didn’t want to halt the cleaning and go down to pick up both of them. “I think Chanyeol will be back in a minute. He’s currently out to grab some drink. That shouldn’t take long, right? You can wait downstairs until he’s back so you can go upstairs with him–” 

She didn’t even get to finish her sentence before she pulled away from her phone with a lunatic screaming of Joohyuk that’d be heard very clearly in the background. “Alright! Alright! I’m coming down now!” 

Leaving the room alone, Yuna went back to the room shortly after with Winter and Joohyuk following her from behind looking like a total wreck. It’s Friday and instead of going to the apartment immediately the moment they arrived, Winter and Joohyuk decided to hang out at the nearby coffee shop while claiming that they deserve to have a proper welcome at the town–not even knowing who’d be in charge of welcoming them. It’s as if the