With her head down, Jiwoo dragged her feet towards the elevator and released a sigh.

It was an unusual sight.

Anyone who knows Kim Jiwoo would tell you that they have never seen the girl without a beaming smile on her face. They'd tell you that she's the most positive person they had ever met. And it's true. Nothing could get her down.

Not until today.

From the moment she woke up, she had a bad feeling that it wasn't going to be a good day. A total understatement considering what she had gone through in her opinion.

To start off, she slept through her alarm. Waking up in panic, she haphazardly jumped out of bed and got freshened up as quickly as she could. Afterwards, she realized she didn't have enough time to properly comb her hair, much less do her make up, so she had no choice but to throw on a messy bun and hope for the best.

Then worst of all, Jiwoo had no choice but to skip breakfast (the most important meal of the day!)

And even after all those sacrifices, she still arrived to class thirteen minutes late.

That was just the morning.

Her late entrance to class earned Jiwoo her first detention in her entire schooling life. She was already dreading the thought of spending time with a bunch of delinquents who would surely make fun of her goody-two-shoes tushy landing in detention.

Jiwoo groans.

It was her senior year, she was supposed to finish high school with a clean record. She would've been alright with it if she got a detention for a cool reason, like defending a junior from a bully or something. But to receive her only detention ever because of the one time she came late?

It was incredibly underwhelming to be completely honest.

Everything truly went downhill from there. During lunch time, some guy from her class slipped and spilled his soup on her shirt. She had no choice but to wear her P.E. uniform for the rest of the day. By the time she got back to the cafeteria, all the better tasting food were gone. Then, as a cherry on top, there was a pop quiz in her History class.

And the only questions that came up were the ones that she hadn't gone over. 

Of course.

Jiwoo wasn't sure why she was suddenly experiencing a streak of bad luck today. As far as she was concerned it was just any other Thursday, so why was everything suddenly going wrong? What has she done to deserve this? She always strived to be positive no matter what, but she's human too!

Jiwoo was exhausted. Both physically and emotionally.

As she repeatedly slammed her forehead against the wall, she failed to notice another woman joining her in the elevator. The doors close and the two women simply minded their own business in silence.

Then suddenly, the elevator came to an abrupt stop.

Letting out a startled squeak, Jiwoo whipped her head around with wide eyes. Within a second, they were submerged in darkness. The stranger with her stayed silent but seemed wary.

Jiwoo whines. "A blackout? Great. Just when I thought this day couldn't get worse."

Letting her eyes adjust to the darkness, Jiwoo finally takes a look at the stranger stuck with her in the elevator. She freezes for a moment then wipes her eyes to make sure she wasn't seeing things. Jiwoo shakes her head in disbelief. Did she hit her head and start hallucinating?

Rubbing her eyes once more, along with a pinch to her own cheek for good measure, it dawned on Jiwoo that right next to her, stuck on this elevator, is the hot girl from the ninth floor of their apartment complex.

The ninth floor hot girl of her dreams.

To this day, she still didn't know her name. She's had plenty of chances to strike a conversation with her before but the younger girl felt intimidated. She always feared that the girl would just ignore her. It would make sense, Jiwoo thought. After all, the girl was an 8K UHD person living in a 360p world.

There were only a handful of things that she knew about this beautiful stranger.

1. She's very pretty.

2. She lives on the ninth floor.

3. She's in university (Jiwoo has seen her carrying textbooks)

4. She's very pretty.

And that's pretty much it.

Her best friend Yerim constantly calls her out for being a wuss since she hasn't even been able to utter a simple "Hi." to the girl. It had been a year since HGFTNF - her and Yerim's nickname for her (Hot Girl From The Ninth Floor) moved in Jiwoo's building. Yet there was zero progress.

Now, Jiwoo was presented this momentous opportunity to get to know her. She has watched this scene play out in shows and films; two people getting stuck in an elevator then talking for hours and eventually falling in love. Was this finally her chance?

Jiwoo felt her cheeks turn warmer as she became overly aware that her and HGFTNF were all alone in this cramped and dark space. Perhaps this was the universe's way to make up for the otherwise crappy day. In that case, she was definitely going to take it.

She clears , suddenly finding courage in the darkness. "Hi. Um, I'm Jiwoo." She holds her hand out, groaning internally when she realized how clammy her palms had turned.

HGFTNF gently shook her outstretched hand and nodded. "I'm Yves. Hello." Her voice sounded melodious to the younger girl's ears.

Yves.

So that's her name. Jiwoo's eyes shined as her heart raced.

HGFTNF's name is Yves!

It fits her perfectly. It sounds so luxurious and mysterious.

Clearing her thoat, she tries to contain herself and attempts to start another conversation. "Um, I'm from the 10th floor... It's nice to meet you- I mean I wish it could be under better circumstances but this is pretty great too... I mean, not in a weird way but- I'll stop talking now." Jiwoo's cheeks taint pink.

If Yerim was there she'd be shaking her head at her, she knows it.

Yves had an unreadable expression on her face, but replies nonetheless "I'm from the ninth floor."

"I know hehe."  Jiwoo replies thoughtlessly with a dopey smile.

Yves raises her brows at the younger girl and Jiwoo realizes what she's just admitted. "Uh.. Haha, I mean because I've seen you around a lot since I'm on the tenth floor and you're on the ninth, so I'm always like 'Oh. It's that girl again.' But not in a bad way! In fact, I love being right on top of you. Your floor! I mean."

Jiwoo could feel sweat culminating at her nape. At this rate she probably has to go to the hospital to get her foot surgically removed from .

Much to her surprise, Yves cracks a small smile at her. From the sight of that alone, Jiwoo's heart soars.

Feeling brave after the older girl's positive response, Jiwoo decides that she should try to keep the conversation going. "What should we do? Who knows how long we're going to be stuck here..." She tried her best to sound upset, even though she was anything but.

Yves looked at her and simply replied, "Oh... I texted the maintenance guy in our building a while ago. He said he'll get us help in a few minutes and that the power should be back on soon."

Jiwoo stared at her wide-eyed as she spoke. "Oh."

And her hopes for a romantic, secluded talk in the dark shatters.

She felt scammed.

Why did this opportunity have to be so short? She didn't even get the chance to really ask the girl anything, like what her favourite colour was or her favourite food. Jiwoo's face falls as she tries to muster up a watery smile. "Ah, that's great! Why didn't I think of that?"

Before Yves could reply, Jiwoo's stomach makes it presence known by growling. She hadn't been able to eat well all day so it's no wonder that she was starving. But did her stomach really have to sound like a dying whale right in front of the girl of her dreams? Someone up there must have something against her.

She hides her face in shame. This was not the first meeting that Jiwoo had fantasized about. It's not even close.

It's fine, Jiwoo tells herself. She'll just have a good cry in the shower later. That'll do it!

It's fine.

The elevator suddenly lurches and a second later, the lights turn back on. 

"Oh... It's back." Jiwoo muttered with a small sigh.

As the darkness disappeared, so did Jiwoo's confidence.

It was nice while it lasted.

After this, she'll just be back to watching from afar.

The elevator then finally moves back up and opens on the fifth floor where the maintenance man was waiting. "Glad you two came out safe. Didn't even have to use my tools." He chuckled. Taking a quick look inside the elevator, he nodded to himself before walking out.

"You two can go back up now. Everything should be good." He waves goodbye to the girls before taking the other elevator to go down.

Jiwoo and Yves, punch in their floors once again before coming back to an awkwardly silent ride.

When they reach the ninth floor, Jiwoo sighs.

She really blew her chance, and now Yves was leaving.

But before the older girl had completely stepped off the elevator, she quickly handed something to Jiwoo before briskly walking off.

Jiwoo stares at her retreating figure and only manages to look at what Yves gave her once the elevator doors had closed.

It was a shiny Granny Smith apple.

Her heart melted.

Yves must've given it because she knew she was hungry. After a moment of shock, Jiwoo hugs the fruit and starts jumping around in joy. Without a second thought, she quickly takes a bite out of the apple. Shutting her eyes tightly, she slowly chews to savour the taste.

She didn't even like Granny Smiths, but somehow this tasted sweeter than anything she had ever eaten before.

No, this day wasn't terrible after all. Jiwoo starts to wonder if every bad thing that happened to her today only occured just so this could happen. Frankly, if in exchange of those things is Yves giving her an apple, then it was all worth it. Her beaming smile was finally back on her lips.

After swallowing, she looks at the apple once more, this time properly, and suddenly her heart drops.

Right on the edges of where she had bitten were a couple of neatly written numbers. However, a huge chunk of the numbers are missing since they're now sitting in her stomach.

Jiwoo's thoughts ran wild as she tried to process what just happened.

Yves gave me... her n-number?

But... I...

Jiwoo drops to her knees. "No!"

fin.