The first time Jihoon actually meets her is by his door, slumped down smoking with trembling hands as silent tears continued to streak down her face. She had her earphones on, Jihoon reasons maybe why she didn’t hear him coming down the hallway. He falters in his steps when he closes the distance to her because dear god he doesn’t need this on a friday night. He could only think of two options to do with one being an and moving her aside by foot so he could get inside his apartment and sleep all the way to sunday morning. He sighs and goes along with the other option which is to sit beside her and give a gentle nudge on the shoulder.

“Noona? Are.. Are you okay? Do you want me to call someone?” he asks, giving her a sidelong glance. “You’re um.. ugh you’re kinda blocking my door.”

Jihoon cringes at his own question, of course she isn’t a-ing okay and maybe her blocking the door is the least of her concerns. The woman in question doesn’t even appear to have heard him, continuing to stare blankly in space but never forgetting to smoke a puff here and there.

No Sherlock, she appears to be lost in whatever she’s thinking, Jihoon muses. He feels a bit bad now, seeing women cry always made him uncomfortable and unable to think clearly. He massages his forehead trying to think of ways to get the crying woman either stop crying or move. Jihoon thinks of calling the landlord to settle the situation and stands up to make a quick call to him when he notices a familiar backpack beside the woman. It was the same black backpack he complimented several weeks ago to his next door neighbor.

Oh , it was his neighbor crying at his door.

Jihoon peers below and gets a better look at her face. Her glasses was a bit frosted, attesting to the length of time she had been clearly slouching down on his door. He tries one more time to get her attention, removing her earphones so she couldn’t miss what he was saying.

“Noona? Noona? Are you okay? You… uhm you’re in my doorway. Do you need anything from me?” he asks, hands on her shoulders shaking her gently out of her stupor. She blinks once, twice and finally looks at him with unclouded eyes. Giving a slow nod to Jihoon, she wipes her remaining tears with her right hand and snubbing the remains of her stick on the bag itself. Jihoon just realizes that the front pocket of the bag was used to dispose all that she was smoking up to now. And damn, those were a lot of holes left when she had snubbed them out. He slowly stands upright and holds out a hand to help her. She waves it off and crawls slowly ‘til she reaches her apartment door bringing the ruined bag with her.

“Sorry about that, I was preoccupied,” she starts, voice hoarse from smoking or crying, Jihoon doesn’t know. “I thought.. that was my door so uhm yeah dunno how long you were standing or sitting there so sorry for that as well.”

She looks up. eyes still red and swollen from her silent tears and gives Jihoon what he thinks is the most saddest smile he’s seen in his life.

“Sorry for ruining your night too but I think I’ll stay right here for a few more minutes… so don’t worry about it, ‘kay?”

Jihoon let out a short nod, not really knowing how to respond to her without appearing awkward. He dug out his keys from his pocket, selecting the right one and opened the door to his apartment. He was already a few steps inside before shaking his head and opening the front door again to go back to her.

“Noona! Please use this and give it back when you’re feeling better.” he said, fishing out his handkerchief. He placed  the small cloth with his two hands on her right hand, enclosing it in his grip. “And please don’t stay out too long either… I might call the landlord or you could rest in my apartment instead.”

He doesn’t wait for her response and goes back to his apartment, shutting the door close.

He doesn’t even know her name or if the woman in question was older or younger than him.

Only that they are neighbors.