“Jung Wheein!"

Yongsun marches angrily down the hallway towards Wheein’s room and stands at the doorway, waving her phone. "Explain to me why I have 50+ Cinder messages sitting in my inbox?"

Wheein is lying on her tummy on bed, casually texting a Cinderfella (that’s what they call a Cinder user) when she hears Yongsun coming into her room. She snaps her head around, stares at her friend for a few long seconds, and then slowly raises an eyebrow “Uhh, you’re welcome?

“What. Did. You. Do?”

“Okay, relax, I might have swiped right on everybody within a 100km radius…”

“Yah!”

“I was just trying to boost your odds of getting a reply!”

Yongsun closes her eyes and slowly inhales and exhales. “I swear, one day I will poison your dinner.” She plonks herself on Wheein’s bed with a sigh. “That’s it, I’m deleting this horrible app.”

“Come on, drama queen, it can’t be that bad.” Wheein says, grabbing Yongsun’s phone and scrolling through her inbox messages. She sees an elderly man posing seductively in a leotard on his bed in his profile photo, and grimaces.

“You’re right. It’s bad. It’s very, very bad.”

“And that’s just one of them!” Yongsun yells, throwing a pillow at Wheein and hitting her on the face with it. “That’s for exposing me to a bunch of weirdos and potential rapists.”

“Well, they can’t all be weirdos and potential rapists. Have you gone through your entire inbox?” Wheein asks, still scrolling.

“I’m too afraid to at this point.” Yongsun replies, staring blankly into space.

“Yo, look. You got a message from someone who’s actually attractive.” Wheein taps into the message and then on the profile photo to enlarge it for Yongsun to see.

It’s a slightly blurry photo of a young woman with long silver hair dressed in a white oxford shirt and skinny black khakis. She has one hand outstretched towards the camera as though trying to block it to avoid having her photo taken, and a huge goofy smile on her face as she looks at the camera, or rather, at the person behind it.

“She’s… not bad.” Yongsun gulps nervously, but quickly regains her composure at the sight of Wheein’s growing teasing smile, and snatches her phone back.

Moonster
Hey

“That’s it?” Wheein almost screams.

“Yep.” Yongsun says with pursed lips, trying not to look too disappointed. The only person on the app who’s actually decent looking is probably not that interested in her.

“It’s like she’s not even trying. Also, she messaged you” Wheein takes a quick glance at Yongsun’s phone. “…45 minutes ago and didn’t bother to follow up with another message? Wow.”

“Maybe I overestimated myself.” Yongsun tries to laugh it off. “Maybe I only attract ahjusshis. Maybe I’m not even hook-up material."

“Shut up, I have quality taste in friends.” Wheein says, nudging Yongsun’s shoulder. “Are you going to respond to her message?”

“Yeah, I mean it’s not serious anyway.” Yongsun shrugs, trying to sound as cool as possible though she can’t get that silver-haired girl’s dreamy smile off her freaking mind.

“You look slightly pissed off though.” Wheein points out.

“The only person who’s going to be pissed off is Hwasa if I’m late to pick her up at the airport.” Yongsun glances at her watch.

“Hwasa?” Wheein makes a face. “That wealthy, snobbish cousin of yours whom you’ve not seen for over three years is back today?”

“Well, she can be a little sassy…”

“A little? Did you forget the first time she saw me while you were video calling her?”

“She asked if I got a new pet shiba inu.” Yongsun snorts in amusement. “That was a good one!”

“Not funny.”

“Wow, I didn't take you as someone who holds grudges. Besides, shiba inus are adorable as hell. She probably thought you’re cute.”

“Highly unlikely.”

“Like it or not, she’s going to be staying with us for a month. Yongsun scoots out of bed and glances at her watch again. “If we start our journey now, we can make it to the airport and still have enough time left to make a welcome home placard for Hwasa.”

“We? Who says anything about ‘we’?” Wheein asks, faking a dramatic look.

Yongsun shakes her head and makes her way towards her own room, yelling at Wheein to get ready because she’s tagging along to the airport whether she wants to or not.

They arrive at the airport in the nick of time due to an unexpected traffic jam, much to Yongsun’s dismay. She had looked forward to put her arts and crafts skills to test.

By the time they reach the arrivals hall, Hwasa is just walking out of the exit pulling an expensive-looking metallic trolley suitcase behind her. An LV bag hangs off her arm while the rest of her body is adorned with precious jewellery and designer clothes.

Wheein rolls her eyes so hard at the first sight of Hwasa she thinks they are going to pop out of their sockets at any moment. Yongsun’s cousin is really something, and not in a good way.

Yongsun and Hwasa run up to each other and fall into an embrace, squealing in excitement as they do.

“Look at you!” Yongsun exclaims, scanning Hwasa from head to toe. “You look posh as usual. Still have your dresses tailor made?”

“Yes, and speaking of which, there are only two of these in the world.” Hwasa beams proudly, doing a little twirl to show off her velvet frock. “One is on my body and the other in a dumpster back in New York.”

“Oh, what happened to it?”

“Factory error. My family designer gifted it to me as a goodwill gesture but I wanted this dress to be the one and only in the world so I binned the other one.” Hwasa explains with a shrug.

“Makes perfect sense.” Yongsun replies with a smile that looks a little strained before turning to Wheein. “Oh, I almost forgot to introduce you to my cousin, Hwasa. Hwasa, this is my best friend and housemate, Wheein.”

Wheein musters a polite smile and extends a hand. “Hi.”

Hwasa looks at Wheein and then at Yongsun and then back at Wheein. “Oh, you mean you two are friends?” She bursts out laughing in surprise. “I thought Yongsun hired you to carry my luggage! Isn’t that so funny?”

Yongsun avoids meeting Wheein’s fiery gaze and fakes a laugh. “You crack me up, dear cousin. Anyway, that favourite French restaurant of yours? I booked a table for 8pm!"

“Oh my god, you're the best! I’ve ben craving for some juicy, melt-in-the-mouth rib-eye steak.” Hwasa says, linking arms with Yongsun as they walk and fall into their own conversation, leaving Wheein behind to tend to the luggage.

“Great.” Wheein mutters bitterly. This is going to be the longest month in her life.

//

Minhyuk stares long and hard at the tiny word below the message Moonbyul had sent and sighs.

Seen.

“Could you not have sent a better ice-breaker message?” Minhyuk rolls his eyes, clutching Moonbyul’s phone a little too tightly. “Who’d reply to this? ‘Hey’? I know I won’t.”

“I told you, I got distracted.” Moonbyul sighs, slipping on surgical gloves, preparing for her next appointment.

“By what? What could have been so important, Byul?”

“Uhh, let’s see, treating a patient with a gaping wound on his abdomen?

“Uhh, not an excuse.”

“You’re appalling. Also, why are you getting so worked up over my affairs?”

“Because here’s a hot girl who looks like girlfriend material and you are screwing your chances with her. Also, it’s high time you move on. How long has it been? Five years? Four?”

“Four.” Moonbyul says quietly.

“See! Your love life is a tragedy.”

“Well, she’s not texting me back.” Moonbyul points out. “There’s a chance she’s not interested in me.”

“Son of a- she just did” Minhyuk’s face breaks into a toothy grin as he hands the phone back to Moonbyul.

“Try not to it up this time, Miss Hey.”

“For god’s sake, stop talking. You're giving me a headache.”

Yongdonnie
Hey!

“I don’t get it.” Moonbyul slowly looks up at Minhyuk, eyebrows furrowed. “Is this a revenge text or?”

“Revenge or not she’s still curious about how you’ll respond to her. She's just playing hard to get. Trust me, no girl would waste their time texting a stranger if they’re not at least attracted to the person's looks or personality.”

“Ah? So what do you think she sees in me?”

“I’ll bet on looks since your online personality is so far. No offense though.”

“Appreciate the honesty. But what should I say to her?”

“Tell her a clever pick-up line.” Minhyuk suggests. “Or tell her what you do for a living!”

“That’s boring, no?” Moonbyul frowns.

“You save lives! That usually gets you the ladies when they find out.” Minhyuk grins.

Moonbyul shoots him a look of disapproval and Minhyuk instantly regrets his words as Moonbyul starts her lecture, “Lee Minhyuk, we swore an oath to treat our