The door opens to a short, angry looking woman with disheveled light brown hair. Despite wearing a light pink dress with bananas pattern, as though she just came out of some random teenager’s magazine, she looks like she is about to slit Yong-sun throat with her neon pink and yellow nails.

“What…”

“I’ve already told you not to let your cat mew all day. It’s bothering me.” Mrs Jung hissed. “And don’t you dare telling me I didn’t. You know I’m working nights.”

Liar, Yong-sun tells to herself, knowing her neighbor just likes annoying her. It has always been so ever since she moved in. They met only a few days after her arrival, but Whee In (she had learned her full name as she came back home with a friend of hers) never gave her a chance. She has always been the enemy, but she has never known why.

And time does not change a thing.

Yong-sun crosses her arms defensively as she knits her eyebrows, knowing it was pointless to argue with a person like Whee In. Her neighbor, who is actually an economy student, spends her time going to party and talking with friends, sometimes late at night, and it is not a surprise to add that she is the one who bothers the other. The cat owner has already been woken up several times in the middle of the night because of random door slamming and or late night phone calls. She hated those paper-thin walls.

“You should just wear ear plug, if noise is a problem. I have some, if you want.”

“Keep them. I just want your damn rats to keep quiet.”

But it is out of the question, if asked with that rude, offensive tone. Yong-sun shakes her head and tightens her arms against under her , shooting daggers at her neighbors. “I’m sorry, but you don’t seem to understand that cats are not tameable beings. They do not obey.”

“I don’t care about what they are. If they bothering me, I’ll make them stop, one way or another.”

Pleased with her own words, Whee In looks Yong-sun straight in the eyes and gives her a smile the cat owner has learned to despise. A smile that means so many things at the same time that one cannot be sure what is the right answer. It is a not-so-hidden threat, because her neighbor is a flame: harmless in appearance, but ready to burn down the entire world if someone was to blow on her at the wrong time.

“I got it.” Yong-sun mumbles, chewing on her cheek to prevent herself from responding more harshly.
Mrs. Jung’s face lightens at her words, her smile taking a good half of her face. “Perfect. Have a nice day, then.”

And once the despicable gargoyle is out of her sight, Yong-sun slams the door shut and starts to look for her phone, rummaging her purse a good minute before finally finding the damn thing. Her anger is not about to calm down. Ooh no, particularly if Mrs. I-am-a-living-princess-who-cannot-handle-cats is going to threaten her this way.

On the phone, the voice of Byul seems a little less clear than usual, as if she was eating or chewing on something. And indeed, she is. Yong-sun cannot hide the disappointment of not being able to speak to her best friend precisely when she needs to rant, but as she is offered to join the party for a drink (she remembers that the painter had told her the week before that she had to help some friend moving into town) she forgets everything about bitterness and starts to prepare herself.

Once in front of her wardrobe, though, Yong-sun stares at the clothes for a moment, picks a pair of skinny blue jeans, a loose white blouse with roses pattern and does her hair into a ponytail.

The door is locked a few minutes later.

On the way to the coffee shop in which she has to meet Byul, Yong-sun thinks about her conversation with Hyejin and the argument with Whee In. It is not her day. Maybe she should go back home and try to do something else than meeting new people? Moonbyul’s friends are always particular, not to say a bit strange.

She pushes the door thinking that maybe it will do her good to see someone else. If things turn sour, she can always go back home and rant with her cats. Or more precisely, to her cats.

Moonbyul is the first to nice the other. She stands up and waves at her friend, her loose sleeves falling to her elbow as her wide smile wrinkle the side of her nose. “Solar!” She is almost shouting and the whole room is looking at her.

“How many times have I told to not call me this.” The cat owner cannot repress a soft laughter as she arrives at the table and takes a seat and receives a kiss on her cheek.

“A million and counting.” The painter cannot help smiling.

There is a sudden cough and both friends look at the other side of the table.

Young-sun does not remember having seen the man that seats right in front of Byul.

“How forgetful! This is Minseok, but I always call him Xiumin. Xiumin, Solar, but you can call her Yong-sun.”

Author Note: I asked a friend to help me choose the main male characters of the story... Okay, maybe we're both lost lol. Have a nice day y'all ♥