“It feels like I’m on a trip!” Jong Ok exclaimed while she was unpacking her bags.

Sunny had to admit that under first impression she was slightly intimidated by her new roommate. Bae Jong Ok was a veteran actress and was many years her senior, but after sharing one conversation with the older woman Jong Ok completely blew those preconceived notions away with her relaxed demeanor and spunky attitude that did not seem to match her age.

In fact, Jong Ok seemed to be much more in shape than Sunny was because the former was actively moving around their bedroom putting away her many assortment of skincare products and clothes while Sunny sat on the edge of her bed staring at her opened suitcase on the floor, having absolutely no motivation to move.

Sunny looked around and just attempted to take in the bedroom that she now shared with Jong Ok. It was a large room, much larger than the one she shared with Yoona in the SNSD dorm. In fact, the whole house was massive. It was no wonder that it could house 12 people and a puppy. Sunny had snuck away from her other roommates to explore the house earlier with Oi the puppy in her arms, and watching previous episodes of Roommate failed to do justice to the house because it was much larger in person.

“Unnie, are you married?” Sunny asked her roommate, wanting to get to know her better.

“I was, once. Unfortunately we didn’t last.” Jong Ok answered simply while arranging her clothes in the closet, fussing over not bringing enough hangers to hang her clothes.

Sunny wasn’t sure if she had accidentally stumbled onto a sensitive topic, but the nonchalant way that Jong Ok had answered her provided some sort of indication that the veteran actress was not perturbed by Sunny’s question.

“Oh. I’m sorry to hear that. I didn’t know…” Sunny replied, ashamed that she should have done more research on her fellow roommates.

“Oh don’t be! That’s life. You learn from the bad, and you embrace the good. I have a beautiful daughter now as a result of that marriage.” Jong Ok said while smiling reassuringly at Sunny.

“How are your schedules lately Sunny? Are you busy?” Jong Ok asked Sunny, aware that the idol was most probably being careful about asking questions from that point on.

“Nope, I’m just a radio DJ now.”

“Aah…but that can get difficult as well can’t it? Radio DJ’s always have to cheer up and give strength to their listeners.” Jong Ok said.

Sunny looked at Jong Ok, trying to figure out if the woman in front of her was psychic, or that she was completely unaware that her comment had hit surprisingly close to home. Sunny noticed that Jong Ok had already finished unpacking, while Sunny’s suitcase still looked full.

“Yeah, but I try to manage as best as I can. Being sad is not a reason to not work.” Sunny said while pulling out random assortments of clothing from her suitcase, and piling them up on her bed.

“You’re right, it really isn’t. But sometimes we have to know our own limits. We need to take breaks too sometimes. That’s what I learned in all my years of acting.” Jong Ok said, moving towards Sunny to help her unpack, noticing the girl was struggling.

Just then, Jackson walked into their room and interrupted their conversion. He was staring enviously at their beds, and Sunny took that to mean that he wasn’t really happy with the room he was placed in. He then left the room as suddenly as he came in while screaming for Joon to play with him.

Sunny and Jong Ok laughed at how adorable he was, and Sunny glimpsed the time on her phone to realize that she only had a few more minutes left until her manager would come to pick her up for her schedules, so the two of them picked up the pace of getting Sunny settled into the room.

************

“….and that was Secret’s latest song! Please give them a lot of support for their comeback! Next up we have Kara’s Mamma Mia, which is their first song with the latest addition to their lineup, Youngji! Enjoy!”

Sunny hit the play button and took her headphones off, in need of water to rehydrate her parched throat. She came straight to MBC to do her radio hosting gig from her share house in Seongbukdeong. Today’s episode wasn’t going to be recorded and televised however, so she didn’t really need to make an effort to look presentable. She just had on a loose white sweater and baggy jeans that was unflattering for her already short figure.

She was in the middle of downing a large glass of water when she saw someone wave at her from behind the glass of the control room. She had to squint her eyes to see who it was because of the glare, and nearly spat out the water in when she saw Hyomin waving excitedly to her, broad grin on her face.

Sunny forced herself to swallow the contents in , and ended up having a coughing fit. One day Hyomin and her killer smiles was really going to be the death of her, she thought. Hyomin looked extremely apologetic however, and held up a sign that had “Sorry!” written on it with a marker. Sunny just smiled back and gestured to Hyomin to take a seat, since she was going to be finished with her radio show soon.

***********

“What are you doing here? Are you skipping out on practice?” Sunny asked accusingly to Hyomin as soon as she stepped out of the recording booth. Sunny was excited to see Hyomin after a week, but she didn’t want Hyomin to get in trouble with her company for missing practice.

“I got a day off today. Eunjung and Boram overworked themselves into a fever, so our company decided to give the rest of us some time to relax.” Hyomin said, welcoming her best friend with a welcoming hug which earned her a few cheers from the FM Date staff. Sunny just threw them a side-glance and they went back to their work, stifling sniggers. Hyomin would drop by to visit her on occasion, and even her co-workers could tell that Hyomin wasn’t just “another friend” to the DJ.

“So your idea of relaxing is to watch me talk into a microphone for an hour?” Sunny asked while gathering her things and thanking the staff for the day’s work.

“That, and to have lunch with you! It’s 2pm and Sunny Bunny has to recharge her batteries! Homemade Kimbap!” Hyomin exclaimed while holding up a plastic bag filled with containers that Sunny presumed was also filled with food.

The two of them headed down to one of the empty dressing rooms that the idols usually used for Show Champion and Music Core. Sunny pounced as soon as Hyomin served her clumsily prepared kimbaps, impressing even herself with how hungry she was.

“You like it?” Hyomin timidly asked, painfully aware of her own lack of culinary skills.

“They’re perfect!” Sunny exclaimed, inhaling a few more slices into .

“You started filming for Roommate today right? How was it?” Hyomin asked, curious about the show, especially since she secretly turned down her chance to be in it.

“It’s amazingly fun! Everybody has been so friendly to me!” Sunny then began telling Hyomin everything that has happened today starting from her first meeting with everyone at the street corner, coming home to find Nana already made kimbap for them, finding out that Jong Ok was going to be her roommate and how full of life the veteran actress is. Hyomin couldn’t help but giggle watching her best friend animatedly describe her day, unable to take her eyes off the beautiful girl in front of her until the shorter girl finished talking.

“But that means you already ate kimbap today…I should have made something else instead….” Hyomin said with disappointment dripping from her voice.

“No way. Your kimbaps are the best! I’d eat yours over Nana’s any day!” Sunny said while waving a thumbs up right in front of Hyomin’s face.

“But Nana is so pretty though….” Hyomin said looking dejected.

“Yah! What does that have to do with anything?!” Sunny asked but Hyomin never answered. The T-ara member just slowly got up and cleaned up after their meal, throwing away used napkins into the trashcan.

“I’ll give you a ride back to Seongbukdong. I already told your manager that I’ll be spending the day with you, so it’ll be alright.” Hyomin told Sunny, while flashing the shorter girl another smile. Sunny picked bits of rice off her pants and got up to follow Hyomin to the parking basement.

“Oh wait! I need to drop by my dorm to get a few clothes hangers for my room! Can we make a quick detour?” Sunny said, suddenly remembering Jong Ok’s request.

Hyomin nodded and fired up the engine of her convertible, filling the empty carpark with the soft purr of her Porsche 911’s engine.

***********

It’s been awhile since Hyomin last stepped foot into the SNSD dorm. She used to drop by whenever she had free time but that has become very scarce as of late. She remembered how she would spend late nights in the SNSD living room watching movies with the rest of the Soshi members, and how Sunny would always be there to hold her hand whenever a particular scary scene would appear. Hyomin grew very close to the rest of Sunny’s groupmates through all the baking parties and movie nights she would be invited to, along with the occasional extra company like Sistar’s Bora and Kara’s Hara.

Remembering all of the happy memories that were made in this dorm, Hyomin felt a little bit happy to return to it after so long. Sunny flashed her keycard to unlock the front door, and the sight that greeted them as they walked in was surprising enough to wipe the smile off of Hyomin’s face.

The living room was a wreck, with cushions strewn everywhere, and their large flat screen tv was lying face down on the floor. The furniture was set at awkward angles, and general clutter lay on the once speckle-free floor. The pair cautiously stepped across all the mess, confusion etched on their faces.

“Sunny….I think there was a break-in.” Hyomin whispered, trying to find a reason behind the state of the Soshi dorm.

“No….it doesn’t really seem like it.” Sunny answered back. Something was off. It wasn’t a break-in, that’s for sure. Why on earth would they go through the trouble of breaking into the dorm just to leave the large TV lying on the floor?

Just then, Sunny heard a soft sound coming from one of the rooms ahead of them. Immediately becoming alert, she was about to reach for some sort of makeshift weapon to defend herself when she noticed the sound was coming from Jessica’s room. She listened carefully and realised that the soft sound was actually sobbing, belonging to an oddly familiar voice. Sunny’s protective instincts kicking in at the sound of crying, she moved towards the door at the end of the hallway when she was stopped by a firm tug of her hand.

Sunny turned to see Hyomin holding her back by her elbow, fear and caution in the T-ara member’s eyes. Sunny gave Hyomin a warm smile and patted the hand holding her back, telling her it’s okay. Hyomin reluctantly let go but followed closely behind Sunny anyways. Sunny barely managed to take a few steps when she suddenly heard a yelp of pain from behind her.

She turned to see Hyomin bent down clutching her right foot which was bleeding. Sunny looked down and saw that her friend had stepped into some broken pieces of glass belonging to a photo frame that had fallen down, the picture that was displayed in the frame lay face down on the floor surrounded by the glass shards. Sunny picked up the picture and turned it around.

It was a picture of all 9 of the Girls’ Generation members during their trainee days, smiling happily at the camera while lounging in the SM practice room eating ddeokbokki. Sunny didn’t have time to dwell on the happy memory due to the situation at the moment with Hyomin whimpering in pain next to her and the sobbing in the room…which had stopped. Sunny didn’t have time to question it when a shaky voice came out from Jessica’s room.

“W-who’s there?!” The voice sounded like the owner had been crying for hours.

“It’s me, Sunny. Jessica is that you?” Sunny answered back, quickly stuffing the photo into her jacket pocket out of instinct. Hyomin had somehow gotten up and found a handkerchief to clean her foot.

“What are you doing h-here?? Shouldn’t you be shooting a show right now or something?” Came Jessica’s shaky voice, accompanied by a few hiccups along the way.

“I came back to pick up something. Hyomin is here too.” Sunny turned to Hyomin who vigorously shook her head, wanting no part of this. Hyomin pointed to the washroom, indicating that she wanted to clean up her foot instead.

“Is it bad?” Sunny whispered to Hyomin, who shook her head again and smiled. “Go to her.” Hyomin told her while giving the shorter girl a soft nudge.

“Sica is everything alright?” Sunny asked, slowly getting up and making her way to the end of the hallway, where Jessica’s room was.

There was a moment of silence and Sunny paused her movement, wondering if her presence was wanted at the moment.

“Yeah, it is. I’m okay.” Jessica was a horrible liar.

“Then what’s with all this mess out here in the living room?”

“Oh, I was going to clean it all up later. I’m sorry about that.” Sunny was feeling slightly irritated and angry at the moment because Hyomin got injured as a result of that mess, but the way Jessica’s voice sounded so weary and broken convinced her to push all that aside for now.

She finally reached the front of Jessica’s room, and she could see through the gap in the slightly ajar door that her room has not been spared the mess.

“Sica, I’m coming in.” Sunny announced, and gently pushed the door open wide enough for her to step through.

_______________________________________________________________________________

This might actually be my biggest gap in between posting updates. I'm sorry! Work has kinda caught up to me. In the middle of drafting out music recording contracts and stuff for class, and contracts are surprisingly enough not easy to make from scratch. Also, I just realised that since I'll be working in the music industry, it'll be hella awkward if I were to bump into any of these people I wrote about in this fic. Like "Hey, I made you kiss a girl in my fic." Yeah, that'll be a fun time.

Also, I try my best to be as accurate as possible between real life and this fic, but I gave Hyomin a Porsche 911 anyway because I was sitting in a cafe in London while writing this and this really pretty asian girl (pretty sure she's Korean but I'm not going to assume) stepped out of a white Porsche 911 and I just had to include it in the fic. 

Thanks for sticking by me! And thanks to the new subscribers! Will try my best to churn out quality stuff for y'all.