Seokmin hugged his parents, thanking them for the nth time for buying him his very own apartment. They had promised to grant him the independence and convenience of one ever since he was in high school. But Seokmin didn't think they were actually serious about it although he is extremely thankful that they were. 

Not taking things the wrong way, Seokmin enjoyed living with his parents. His parents hardly fought. In other words, his family wasn't ed up like most teenagers claim their families were.  His twin sisters embraced him and despite them often being rather stubborn and mischievous, he knew he was going to miss having them around. 

"We'll miss you!" Seoyun pouted.

"Oh really?" 

"Yeah! Who are we going to pick on when you're not around?" Seoyeon asked, pouting as well. 

Seokmin chuckled. "Promise me you'll take care of each other, okay?" 

Both the twins nodded in unison as they kissed Seokmin's cheek.

 
"Alright son, most of your things are already in the apartment. The rest will be here in say, ten minutes?" 

Seokmin nodded. "Thanks again Dad, Mom. This really means a lot." 

"You deserve it, honey. Live while you're young. Have fun but promise me to be good, okay?" 

Seokmin wrapped his pinky finger around his mother's and smiled. "I got that job downtown by the way." 

"That's great! Take care, sweetheart. Call me if there's anything. I love you." Mrs Lee kissed the dark brown haired boy on his forehead.

"Love you too, Mom, Dad." Seokmin waved his family goodbye and watched them drive off before entering the lobby. He stared at the building, excited to move into his new home. He's always wanted to live in a loft apartment.

He took the lift to the third floor, also the topmost floor of the building. He checked the unit number in the letter against the brass plaque on the door. #03-011. This must be it, he thought as he opened the door. 

The loft was bigger than he expected and appeared even more spacious as an effect of the white walls and high ceiling. The floor was wooden and looked like it was recently polished while one of the walls where the large windows stood was brick.

 
The loft was two storeys so there was a staircase by the kitchen side leading upstairs. Seokmin thought it was rather cool how the second floor was smaller, literally half, of the first. There wasn't another door to another room simply because the entire second floor was the bedroom itself. There was also a glass panel at the edge and a divider for the bed. Not to mention the walls were pastel blue, Seokmin's favourite. 

He rested his arms against the metal railing as he scanned the loft once more. He was definitely satisfied until he remembered. Neighbours. His neighbours. He hasn't met them yet and lord, he sure hoped they were normal. Not that his previous neighbours were aliens or anything but the first neighbour was a serial smoker whose dog always pooped on his front porch. His wife baked horrible cookies and their daughter loved to play in the mud and hang from the trees. Sometimes Seokmin would mistake her for a ghost but most times, she stinks. Like garbage. Really. And Seokmin thought girls were always clean. 

Neighbour number two was a bigger family of six. The parents were science teachers which explained why Seokmin got science textbooks for Christmas with a card that bred of chemistry puns. The eldest son apparently enjoyed dancing to which Seokmin had a perfect view from his bedroom window. And no, he did not like it one bit. Although it would be a lie if he said that the boy wasn't hot. He had beautiful tanned skin and abs. Now who doesn't like that? Anyway, the middle child was noisy. Really noisy. The kind who played drums in the middle of the night to which Seokmin never understood how their family even managed to sleep. Child number three wasn't any better. She loved drawing. And by loved, it went to the extent of vandalising their front porch with crayons. The youngest, was a living nightmare. Seokmin was asked to help babysit her once for a week and it was hell. If having the bathroom flooded with foam, the living room covered in ketchup and raw eggs and his  super-glued to the toilet seat isn't hell, Seokmin doesn't know what is. And all that coming from a nine-year old kid is just a nightmare beyond belief. 

Neighbour number three was a widow. She was always telling Mrs Lee stories of the seven men she was once married to and how she's divorced every one of them. Apparently, she got seven cats to replace those seven bastards as she liked to call them. Seokmin clearly recalls being invited to her house once for dinner and he got so creeped out by the feeling of fourteen eyes staring into his soul. Not to mention the woman likes to display gnomes both on her front lawn and in her house which Seokmin just found pure creepy.

 
By neighbour number four, Seokmin's family had move into an apartment building type of house. So that made several more neighbours. Some were normal and some were weird which by weird included a couple who too often had and Seokmin wished he had soundproof walls, a woman who watches anime in her bathroom because apparently Seokmin can always hear it while he's showering and a newspaper thief. 

While the boy prayed for a miracle this time, he heard a knock on his front door and realised the rest of his belongings have finally arrived. He rushed downstairs and opened the door as a friendly man entered carrying a big cardboard box.

"There're some more downstairs but I forgot the trolley so I have to manually carry them up." He explained, sighing at himself. 

Seokmin chuckled. "I'll help you in a bit. But first, how much do I—" 

Before Seokmin could complete his sentence, the man interrupted. "Nah, it's cool. Your father paid for everything already." 

Seokmin smiled, shaking his head. He should have known his father better with that heart of gold of his. First, he insisted to pay for Seokmin's loft rent. To which the boy of course refused until they reached an agreement where his father will only pay most of the rent while the rest by Seokmin himself. And now, his father even paid for transport. Seokmin never felt more grateful. He beared in mind to thank him later.

After he placed down the box, Seokmin followed the man downstairs at the parking lot where he helped to retrieve the remaining boxes. When it was the eighth and final box, Seokmin thanked the man again and reassured him that he could bring it up on his own. 

Too bad Seokmin hadn't realise sooner that the last box in fact, happened to be the heaviest box and he tried to recall what in the bloody hell he would have packed that made it so heavy. Seokmin struggled as he entered the lift. When he reached the third floor, he took a deep breath as he picked up the box. Heavy was one thing. Not being able to exactly see where he was going is another. He had to stick out his head to either side which clearly didn't help very much because he was still crashing into the walls. 

Fortunately for him, a pair of arms slipped under the box sharing its weight. Seokmin sighed in relief despite not being able to see who the kind stranger was because he was carrying the opposite side of the box and walking backwards. 

"You looked like you needed it." 

"Yeap. Thanks! A kind neighbour like you could come in handy." Seokmin joked to which the stranger chuckled. 

"Are you the new guy moving into #03-011?" 

"Yup." 

"I live next door. You don't happen to smoke or fancy one night stands do you? Or maybe the kind who watches in the bathroom and es really loudly?" 

Seokmin laughed. "What? No way! I'm guessing the previous owner was a terrible lad?" 

"You have no idea how happy I was when I heard that he was moving out. You see, I never really had any luck with neighbours. I've moved twice. It ." 

Seokmin raised his eyebrows, sort of relieved to know that he wasn't the only one who had neighbour issues. "Ya don't say. I've always had bad luck when it comes to neighbours too. I've moved four times and they're all equally bloody weird." 

"You seem like a good change." The stranger complimented. 

"You too." Seokmin grinned. "Do you live here alone?" 

"Yup. You?" 

"Same. My parents said I could have my own apartment after I graduated from college." 

"Woah, wait. You're a college graduate?" 

"Uhuh. You?" 

"Me too! I'm currently working as a barista downtown. You know, I didn't catch your name by the way." 

"Oh, right. Uh, Lee Seokmin." 

At that very second, the stranger let go of the box, dropping it right onto Seokmin's feet. He yelled. "Owww!! Why the did you—"  

Seokmin looked up and silence engulfed the tension when his eyes meet the stranger's. 

"You." They both growled in unison, biting back the anger and bitter memories. And obvious shock.

"Kwon Soonyoung you son of a ." Seokmin never spared him a polite greeting, emphasizing on each word as he spoke. 

"What the do you think you're doing here." The stranger, Soonyoung, narrowed his eyes.

"Well, too bad I live here now. Did I burst your poor little personal bubble?" 

"Yeah. My life was so much more peaceful without you in it." 

"And so was mine." 

 "I swore I thought I'd never see you again but after all this while, you make a miraculous appearance claiming you just moved in next door. How wonderful." 

"Your sarcasm hasn't changed a bit." 

"Of course not. I saved it for people like you." 

"Ah... people like me. And what exactly is that like?" Seokmin raised his eyebrows, crossing his arms.

Soonyoung cupped his chin with his hand, clearly exaggerating. "Hmm, let me see. Haughty, ignorant, selfish, horribly shallow and a voice so irritating I'd rather hear trolls sing." 

"Oh my, if that's the case, I shouldn't hesitate to take you to a ear doctor then huh? Take a hearing test, maybe?" 

"You're so arrogant, you know that?" 

"And you're not? Always showing off your dance skills in peoples' faces?" 

"At least I boast something I'm actually good at. In case you're forgetting, I'm a dance prodigy. What are you? Prodigy of making alien noises?" Soonyoung bluntly mocked. 

"Yeah well my alien noises got me a job as a vocal teacher. Beat that, barista." 

Soonyoung narrowed his eyes. "Oh yeah? I'll wait till your own smart mouth gets you fired. And just for the record, I am a dance teacher." 

"Fine." 

"Fine."

"Fine!" 

"Fine!" Soonyoung raised his voice as both of them slammed their doors shut. 

Seokmin couldn't believe his fate. When he prayed for a normal neighbour, he didn't mean to come face to face with his high school enemy. Right now, Seokmin would rather just put up with his previous weird neighbours. 

"Anybody! It could have been anybody yet it had to be that !" Seokmin sighed. " my life. And you too, Kwon Soonyoung."