After hours of exploring and getting lost in the city, the blonde managed to return from her first grocery trip. She wanted to get some snacks and food for herself to help save money. Sure, she liked eating out and experiencing the limitless options of food the city had to offer, but it was starting to eat away at her savings. Since she began living here, she had not cooked for herself, well she has never cooked before, her parents always had meals ready for her. But now that she was more independent, it was time to learn sooner or later.

Chaewon started putting away her groceries in the cupboards, ranging from cereal, soda, chips, and some frozen goods. She curiously looked at a bag of chicken nuggets she purchased, they looked delicious and couldn't wait to try them later. She just wasn't sure how to cook them, so she figured she would ask. 

"Do I need to fry these?" Chaewon asked from the kitchen, her roommate lazily sprawled on the couch, browsing for something to watch to cure her boredom.

Hyunjin looked over, then laughed and joked. "Frozen nuggets? Yeah, just put them in oil." The two college students haven't spent much time together, but the taller girl was starting to understand the blonde's humor. At least, that's what she would like to think.

It's been a few weeks since Chaewon started her life in the city. Just as she suspected, HyunJin was reasonably reserved, well they both were. They each kept to themselves living amongst each other; they minded their own business for the most part. 

Chaewon started to notice a pattern in Hyunjin's arrival and absence from their home. Was that weird? No, it was just a mere observation. Hyunjin, would come and go at the same time almost every day like it was clockwork. The thin walls allowed the blonde to hear when her roommate would leave her room and exit their apartment late in the afternoon. At night, the familiar jingle of keys trickled by her bedroom, and soon after, an audible sigh would be heard before Hyunjin closed her bedroom door. The smaller girl could only wonder where her roommate went every day. Did she have a part-time job? Was she out with her friends? The blonde felt a little jealous of the thought that Hyunjin had a wonderful social life. Chaewon wanted to spend more time with her new roommate, and she had wanted to become close friends just like some of the K-dramas she watched.

Occasionally they would watch TV together in the living room and even eat together. Building up their friendship was slow, and the blonde was more than pleased to make some progress. It was to be expected, as they were both introverted, Chaewon, more so than Hyunjin. It may take some time before they could open up to each other, but the younger girl looked forward to the day they could freely speak to one another with little to no restraints or caution.

Sure the blonde didn't have any friends yet; classes didn't start for a couple more weeks. She banked on her new university life to begin her budding social life. Until then, she would have to confide in her only stable friendship.

The source of solace for the blonde was her virtual friend, Olive. Growing up with a lack of social life in her hometown, she turned to video games to entertain herself when she had free time. Instead of going out and having fun, she would turn on her favorite Nintendo console and play for hours on end. It turns out, habits die hard, and she continues to follow the same routine. It didn't help that the newest version of Animal Crossing was just released. Masses of people were quickly obsessed with the game, and Chaewon was one of them.

Chaewon met Olive about two years ago. You could say that she, or maybe even he, was the closest friend that the gamer had. Olive has never really mentioned their gender. Perhaps they were shy about it. They have never spoken to each other, only communicated to each other through text, in the game, or on Discord.

You could say that Chaewon would look forward to their chats each day, which was every day. They practically shared every bit of their lives, well Chaewon forgot to mention she moved recently, but that will come eventually. They talked about everything and nothing, most of their conversations were light-hearted, but at times Chaewon could tell when Olive's spirits were down. The signs of her saddened friend were shown through delayed responses, short messages, and the lack of emojis or excitement that usually would be present. The blonde could only hope that her virtual presence brought some sort of relief to her online friend.

She has had thoughts of possibly exchanging numbers, maybe even face timing each other, and who knows. Perhaps they could even meet! But just as much as she loved the idea, it also terrified her. What if she didn't meet their expectations? Would they want to be friends with her knowing Chaewon never had a real friend before? What if they were completely different in person? What if they were some old creep? The last thought caused her to shudder. This is why it was best to keep their relationship mysterious, it was better this way, and she was happy with the current arrangements. Olive never pushed for anything more, so they must be content about it as well.

Despite having a hard time socializing with others in person, she had no trouble chatting with people online, asking who had the highest prices for turnips, or merely exploring a player's extravagant island giving her ideas to improve her own. Most of her conversations would be in the form of text inside the game. She felt free to be able to be more like herself without judgment, without having to care what others thought of her. In the virtual, nothing really mattered; it was a simple escape from the real world.

~ ~ ~

Hyunjin woke up to a persistent beeping noise. What the ? Wasn't it the weekend? There were no classes, no reason for anything to disturb her slumber. She grumbled to herself and rolled around in her bed to turn off her phone alarm that she must have forgotten to disable for the weekend.

Strangely enough, the sound wasn't coming from her phone once she brought the screen to her face. It then hit her that the sound was from a fire alarm blaring in the hallway. She jumped out of bed and burst out of her room, wearing nothing more than her sleepwear, which consisted of an oversized shirt, underwear, and some thick comfy tube socks.

Once she opened her bedroom door, the smell of smoke entered her lungs, the looming gray ashes that dusted the air came from the kitchen. She walked in on a panicking blonde, wide-eyed pouring water over the stove fire, only fueling the flames to dance fiercely, whipping at the underside of the cabinets that hung above.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Hyunjin yelled at Chaewon, who jumped in surprise at the loud voice, causing her to drop the container of water she was holding, spilling out a layer of liquid onto the floor and all over herself.

Hyunjin didn't think it could be possible for Chaewon's eyes to grow wider, she had feared her eyeballs would fall out. The small blonde seemed to panic more, water now all over the floor, the fire still set ablaze on the stovetop. The blonde thought it would be best to prioritize drying the wet ground over the burning kitchen appliance and proceeded to slip and fall on her as she shuffled around the kitchen for a towel. 

What a disaster! Was Chaewon this much a clutz? Ignoring her drenched roommate, and her now soggy socks, Hyunjin went straight to the fridge and grabbed a box of baking soda. It was initially used to help keep food fresh, but it also came handy for emergencies just like this. As she went to the flaming pan, she noticed the stove was still on. Wow, Hyunjin might have to ban Chaewon from the kitchen indefinitely. At first, she flinched from the scorching heat the flames produced. With a bit more courage, she