If you have the amount of exactly three cardboard boxes in hands, what would you need to make it drop down to zero? 

Well, according to Kim Dahyun’s peculiar mathematical laws (who is, that’s worth mentioning, an ace in math as well as other various subjects)—not much. A simple encounter with a person you can barely even find yourself remembering, should be enough to reduce that number and leave you empty-handed. 

“Oh my, I’m so sorry!” the girl apologizes. An eye-witness of the mess few steps below. “I didn’t mean to scare you. Are you okay?” 

The culprit tries moving her face in every direction, away from the prying pair of eyes, looking for the one guaranteeing coveted anonymity. 

‘What is she doing here?!’ internal Dahyun panics as if the world just had come to an end. Right there, before her very eyes.  

In a small condominium in Itaewon. 

“Yeah, uhh,” she grunts, a little too low, too throaty, and overall cartoony to be taken seriously. Luckily, she latches on to that fast enough. “I’m fine, don’t worry.” her normal voice sounds much better. Hopefully not too familiar though. 

When she’d found out about this apartment, it did sound too much like a dream. Which was what made the already overanalytical Dahyun look for the drawbacks before she’d even gone to examine it in person. When she discovered none that would make her even a little bit less excited, she became even more suspicious than she was in the first place. Good location, relatively cheap rent she could actually afford for more than a few months, easy to sweet-talk landlord, a suited layout of what’s generally considered as primarily claustrophobic space... She didn’t even have that much potential tenants to compete against. 

It all sounded too good to be true, and now Dahyun knows why. 

Turns out it wasn’t just her paranoid and pessimistic self, making her this nitpicky. It was her gut trying to reason with her to retreat her before it’s too late. 

Because, out of all people populating the Itaewon district, it had to be this crazy Japanese woman she’d confronted during last Halloween, living just a door away from an apartment Dahyun is currently moving into. 

Just her luck, really. 

“Are you my new next-door neighbour I’ve been hearing about from Ms. Lee? Do you need any help?” Sana (Dahyun thinks that was her name) asks from her doorstep. Stepping outside her apartment and locking the door right after. 

Dahyun quickly crouches down and ducks her head, beginning to pick up all the boxes she’d dropped. 

“N-No! I mean, yeah, I’m your new neighbour, I guess,” she rambles awkwardly, while the other just giggles at her antics. Dahyun only prays to lord her face is successfully hidden behind her hair and the cardboard cartons. “But I’ll manage, that’s what I meant.” 

Sana hums softly. “Fair enough. You’re probably better off on your own anyways. I’m a little too clumsy.” she laughs again, the sound echoing inside the empty stairway. 

Dahyun puts the last box atop another one, creating a little beige pyramid, before lifting all of them up. She swallows a groan and slowly began walking up the stairs as to reach the doors to her newly rented apartment. 

“I’m Sana.” she hears. 

“Nice to meet you,” a response slips in between the coarse grumbles. Just why had she had to pick up so many of her stuff at once? 

Sana chuckles yet again. “No name, cutie?” Dahyun’s glad the redness of her usually pale features can be blamed on the heavy belongings she’s carrying upstairs. “All right, Anonymous. I’ll get it out of you one day. I like a good challenge.” 

“Uhuh.” 

She’d stopped once she’d reached the landing to stretch her stiff back a little. Bones popping here and there satisfyingly. 

“You know, your voice sounds kind of familiar.” 

Dahyun freezes in a mid-upper body twist. Swallows slowly while her mind quickly filters a bunch of different excuses. 

But Sana doesn’t let her utter even a single one, as she’s heard speaking once more. “Look somewhat familiar too,”  

The Korean suddenly thinks of the awfully heavy boxes as her best of friends. Considering, when Sana tried to get a better look at her features, the latter chose to hug the cartons closely.  

“Have I seen you before? In my dreams maybe.” 

Her new neighbour breaks into carefree laughter which makes Dahyun want to scream in response. Finding amusement in such nerve-wracking situation is a low blow. But how the hell would Sana know how Dahyun feels in current state of affairs? 

“Do you always talk so much?” Dahyun continues her route to her apartment. 

“Kinda. There just aren’t many people my age in this neighbourhood. And since you don’t look too eager to hold a conversation, seems like I have no other choice anyway.” 

Dahyun mumbles something incoherent she herself couldn’t decipher. Her arms started to feel stiff, so she adjusted her grasp by steading the lowest box with her knee. 

And just then, the top one slid off the pile and fell down on the floor, making her groan in annoyance. 

“I think you could use a hand,” Sana concludes as Dahyun puts down the other two boxes. Rounds her and reaches the third one at the exact same time the Korean does. Their gazes met in such a cliché way whilst reaching for the cardboard fugitive, it was almost chucklesome. 

Sana looks at her with such intensity, Dahyun feels like it’s burning her whole face down. The Korean couldn’t help but notice, that she looks fairly different than she seemed last Halloween. Maybe due to the much better lightning, or the lack of the red, a little disheveled Mera wig getting in the way of her pretty, round face.  

Perhaps her neighbour is insanely attractive and insufferably fitting in Dahyun’s ideal type criterion, but... God, can she make an impression. More specifically a bad one, Dahyun found out. Not a big fan of people forcing themselves on her to begin with. Much more while under stress, which she just so happened to be stupefied with on the memorable night of their meeting. It didn’t help that it was due to Sana’s questionable doings as well. 

Dahyun finds it quite impossible to hold onto that piercing gaze, so she cowardly shifts her eyes elsewhere. Precisely—on the amateurly made sign, attached with a masking tape to her neighbour’s door. 

“No Momos allowed!!” it’d read. ‘What's a Momo?’ Dahyun wonders. 

“, I don’t know,” her eyes eventually return to Sana, that is currently biting on her bottom lip both in frustration and what seemed to be a deep contemplation. “I don’t know why I feel like I’ve seen you before.” 

Neither will Dahyun be the one to enlighten her. 

She swallowed the painful lump in , humming in response and left the third box to Sana. In fear of the other reading something she shouldn’t have known from her overly expressive face, she went straight to her door, pulling out keys from her back pocket. 

“Thank you,” she mumbled, seeing in her peripheral vision as Sana puts the carton down on the previously dropped pile of Dahyun’s belongings. 

“Anytime.” she heard Sana respond. Could almost imagine the all too proud smile present in her voice. Maybe there would’ve been a wink sent her direction too, if Dahyun wasn’t so bad at maintaining eye contact with strangers. 

Especially those, she’s finding attractive. And trying to avoid. 

Metal clanking against each other is the only sound you could hear on the stairwell for a good minute, during which Dahyun struggles to find the right key. She nibbles the inside of her cheek as it’s close to embarrassing for how long she fidgets with the content of her own keyring. 

Then a loud, stunned gasp echoes through the place, almost making the startled Dahyun bite off a chunk of her inner cheek. 

“Genie!” Sana calls out. Clearly having an Eureka! kind of moment. 

The Korean’s eyes broaden in an instant. 

She tries so desperately not to switch into full-on panic mode. 

“T-The SNSD’s song?” Dahyun chooses to play dumb instead. Thinks for a moment if following the question with a line of the song or a dance move would work to her advantage. Almost immediately decides against it. 

Sana scoffs behind her. “You! You are the Genie that saved me from that guy on Halloween,” Dahyun only closes her eyes in defeat. “Holy , I almost didn’t recognize you with hair and without the blue paint everywhere.” 

Bunch of verily unladylike words are being chanted inside Dahyun’s head, while she tries her best to appear calm and unimpeachable on the outside. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” she continues with her act. Prays that she’ll eventually outmaneuver the girl, who’ll hopefully start thinking she’d made a mistake. 

“Don’t play dumb with me,” 

.... 

Within seconds, Sana’s hand is on her shoulder and making her turn away from the door’s wooden surface as to fully face her. “You’re not going to fool me twice, sweetie.” 

Dahyun gulps as Sana investigates her features once more. Only this time, knowing damn well who she is and why she seems so familiar in her mind. 

“I still have yet to thank you.” 

Dahyun has no time to ponder how the hell her tone oozes with such sensuality while telling a sentence so plain and one-dimensional. Because her knees almost give in and make her fall down right there, under Sana’s feet. 

But it stays only as an almost. 

Sana may be deucedly attractive, with the prettiest, most innocent looking Bambi eyes she’d ever seen, but just... 

“N-No,” Dahyun mumbles. 

Sana beams in amusement. “No?” even her smile has Dahyun on the verge of screaming until her lungs give out. 

“No.” she repeats, more firmly this time. 

A pout overtakes Sana’s plump lips.  

“Why not?” she questions cutely, stomping her feet like a little girl. 

Only that is what Dahyun has still yet to find out herself. 

Before Dahyun has time to open and utter her reason as to why (not that she had any, Sana would’ve most likely gotten a bunch of incoherent mutters in response), a sound of metal doors being pushed open made her jump away from her neighbour. By no means they were even that close to each other to consider it inappropriate. But still, Dahyun wanted to avoid any assumptions regarding her relation to Sana, that could potentially be made by her-- 

“Kim Dahyun!” a deep voice echoes inside the stairwell. “I told you, one at a time. You stubborn mule!” 

Anonymity completely out the window. With dignity following suit. 

The aforesaid girl closes her eyes and exhales lowly, avoiding the questioning looks Sana had been sending her. 

“Thank you,” Dahyun massages her nose slowly as a man with even more and bigger boxes, makes his way towards them. “For the essential compliment, Dad.” 

Sana eyes as the man, addressed previously as Dahyun’s father, carries four big cartons without any struggle, and puts them down as soon as he joined them on the stairwell’s floor. Just when he’s free of any of his daughter belongings, Mr. Kim wordlessly answers all the questions Sana had regarding both Dahyun’s attractiveness and skills in self-defense. 

Mr. Kim is a short man, about Sana’s height, with strong, broad shoulders and very thin waist. Long, pointy nose and sharp mono-lidded eyes, that Dahyun apparently took after. Yet his complexion was deep and tan, like he spent a lot of time in the sun. A polar opposite to his daughter, that seemed almost porcelain-white in comparison. Most noticeable feature, however, was the potent liveliness his big, good-natured smile embodied. Almost making you overlook the receding silver hair and profound crow's feet around the corners of his brown eyes. 

“Who’s that beautiful friend of yours?” he spoke. Croaky charm apparent in his voice. 

“Minatozaki Sana, sir. I’m your daughter’s neighbour,” Sana smiled widely and bowed. “Pleasure to meet you.” 

“Oh please,” Mr. Kim laughed wholeheartedly and reached out to squeeze her hands. “The pleasure is mine, Ms. Sana. I hope my daughter wasn’t much trouble.” 

Sana beams as his rough hands shake her soft ones. “Not at all, sir. Not at all.” 

The Japanese looks over at Dahyun, stretching a little smirk that has the tip of her ears blushing within seconds. 

“Would you like to stop by for some tea?” Mr. Kim offers politely. 

Dahyun  in her lips and clears flamboyantly.  

“Dad, I haven’t even unpacked yet.” 

Mr. Kim looks over at the boxes they’ve brought upstairs but have yet to transport inside the apartment. 

“Oh , you’re right.” 

Dahyun facepalms in embarrassment, while Sana only giggles. 

“I would love to stay and help you with all of these, but,” Sana says as she eyes her phone. “I’m afraid I’m already late to where I am expected.” a genuine sadness in her tone made Dahyun believe Sana’s actually apologetic, and the excuse is not made up as to just quickly vanish from the scene. 

She would’ve been just fine if it was the latter, though. Dahyun really, really wants Sana out of there before her father gets any ideas. 

“Don’t sweat it, kiddo,” Mr. Kim sends her the biggest smile. “We don’t want to take any more of your time, Ms. Sana. Isn’t that right, Dubu?” 

Dahyun suddenly feels uncomfortable with her dad’s strong arm around her shoulder, swaying her left and right like she’s a dummy. The Japanese, on the other hand, seems to have a blast watching that little family moment. 

“Uhuh.” the Korean grunts in response. 

Sana’s seen waving their direction as she’s running down the stairs. “Have a nice day, Mr. Kim!” 

“You too, young lady!” 

Just when Dahyun thinks she got rid of her, when after her father’s response she was only left hearing Sana’s light footsteps—a sweet voice echoes through the stairwell and right into her ears: 

“See you, Dahyunnie!” 

And the Dahyunnie could only act like she wasn’t blushing madly at the nickname. 

Figured, the best she can do in order to hide it is to get back to work. So she quickly unlocked and wide opened her door, after which her legs instantly carried her towards the boxes she’d put aside. This time, she took only one at a time. 

“It’s good that you made a friend already. Such a nice girl she is.” her dad concludes, grabbing a few cartons himself. 

Dahyun fights with a sigh at her father’s words. Of course Sana had already successfully wooed the man, as opposed to his daughter that wasn’t so crazy about the said Japanese. Not that getting on his good side is a specifically hard thing to do—Mr. Kim is really too kind for his own good. 

Part of the reasons why he got screwed over so many times in his life. Usually over things having to do with money. 

Dahyun propped her box up with her knee before saying:  

“She’s not my friend, appa.” 

Mr. Kim hums lowly. “Hm, if you say so,” 

Then a suspicious silence overtakes, right before: 

“Girlfriend, then?” 

Maybe mathematics is a bit more complex than the book smart Dahyun had initially thought. Or the previously invented equation had more to do with the law of physics (that the youngest Kim was average with to say the least), than it had with math. 

Because it didn’t matter that this time there was only one box of belongings in Dahyun’s hands. She’d still dropped the damned thing down. 

 

*** 

 

“The hell?!” 

Sana jumps up in her sofa as a hand slams down onto the coffee table. Rumpled piece of paper peeks from underneath Momo’s slim fingers. 

“No Momos allowed?! What am I, some kind of species?” the other Japanese exclaims, pointing at the crumpled-up sign she just ripped off of her best friend’s door. 

“Don’t shout,” Sana warns her calmly. “Neighbours are going to put up more of those if you’re going to be this loud.” 

Momo sighs dramatically as her fists rest on both of her sides. 

“Just what am I guilty of to deserve this kind of treatment?” 

“Raiding my fridge?” 

The girl stays mum. Then grimaces in defeat because it was, above all injustices, very much true. 

“Whatever,” Momo exhales the moment her makes a contact with the soft material of Sana’s sofa. “Not like you would’ve withstood a single week without me anyways.” 

“You’re stupid.” 

“Nyeh nyeh.” 

Momo’s annoying and child-like attitude almost makes Sana hold her breath and try to die.  

Instead, she settles on inhaling and exhaling slowly. “Just tell me what was so urgent for you to barge in here, so you can leave me to do my thing?” not that she hates her best friend’s presence. Hell, she wouldn’t have called her that in the first place if it was the case. Momo’s been the first person ever to take that special status of Sana’s best of buddies and, in her mind, it’s going to stay like that forever. She’d be caught dead before she’ll even begin to hate Momo’s guts. 

The thing is, Sana just really had her mind settled on doing a specific thing today. Alone. 

And that is, visiting a certain someone, she still owns a thank you to.  

“Does that thing involve the cute neighbour you’ve been talking about nonstop recently?” Momo smirks grows at a thought she just had. “Are you planning on spying on her?” 

Sana gasps dramatically. “No way, I’m not a !” then shoves her idiotic best friend for even thinking that. 

“Riiiiight.”  

Momo drawls. Squinting her eyes at her best friend as if she’s trying to get it out of her. But the other didn’t budge. 

“If you say so,” Momo gives in, reaching to her pocket and pulling out a pile of folded papers. “Back to what I was saying then. Remember the project me and Minari were assigned to in the second grade?” 

Sana eyes the colorful papers Momo gently plays with, then finally nods. 

“Well, turns out, we caught the eyes so much, we’d be performing the same choreo on some championships within a few months...” 

“MOGURI!” Sana squeals, wrapping her arms around the older’s neck. “That’s so great!” 

“Wow, look who’s loud now,” Momo laughs which earned her a piercing glare. “Just kidding! Jesus, stop frowning, you look old.” 

Soon, Sana finds the other fidgeting with the content of her hands yet again. 

“Why do you seem so nervous? Stage fright already?” 

It would be quite strange if it was the case. Momo was known for her incredible stage presence. For how fiercely and effortlessly her body follows whatever beat was playing. So Sana wouldn’t place her bets on some mere jitters. Something greater must be troubling the dancer. 

Momo then, in all her might, hides her face behind her hands and grunts loudly. 

“Because I am terrified!” she belted. “How can I do this again, Sattang?! I almost had a heart attack the other time... How can I survive being this close to her again? Ugh, and she probably hates me now!” 

Sana laughs and pries Momo’s hands away from her reddish face. 

“Calm down, you... Gay disaster,” another rush of chuckles as this time it’s Sana, who’s on the receiving end of a warning glare. “This is a great opportunity for the both of you, so don’t let the stress swallow you up. Maybe you’ll even finally find the gut to confess your feelings and clear up the misunderstandings.” 

Sana didn’t know that much about the choreography they did last year apart from that it is kind of an intimate one, and that they’d scored an easy A with it (as expected from the two best dancers in their departments). But if anything, it didn’t make her friend look good after she literally started fleeing each time she’d cross paths with Myoui Mina on campus.  

The ballet major now probably thinks Momo used her to score a good grade and dipped the moment she got what she wanted. Wherein reality—she was transforming into a blushing, stuttering mess just at the memories of every intimate pose they had to do together. 

“Y-Yeah, maybe,” Momo nodded slowly and took away her hands form Sana’s grip. “, I know you got me. You always got me. That’s why I brought you this.” 

Then the Japanese unfolded the pile of papers she was clenching on the whole time and gave it to Sana. 

“Anyways, I know your rich has her own ways, but this is mostly a closed event. Still, I got you a ticket so you can come to the venue on the day of the performance. I hope for a boost of confidence from you, since there will be a bunch of stuck-up big shots watching us,” Momo explained. "Got you some extra if you have someone in mind that would want to tag along. You are the social butterfly out of us two after all.” 

Sana inspected the tickets she got from Momo and immediately locked her in a bone-crushing hug after hearing her words. There’s no way in heaven she’s going to miss this. 

And, to be honest, she got one person in mind she’d like to bring with her when the day comes. 

Just that, she’s sure that this someone most likely wouldn’t want to go anywhere with her. 

 

*** 

 

For such hardworking, diligent person as Dahyun, the Korean had proven on numerous occasions just how lazy she can be sometimes. 

Like, when the academic year had already started weeks ago, but the latter was still coming back to her apartment to the sight of moving boxes all around. Some, which content is not that significant at the moment, even still sealed with a strap of silver tape and collecting dust somewhere in a dark corner. 

She should probably start unpacking soon, if she doesn’t want to replace her wardrobe with a cardboard box for good. 

But for now, an episode of We Bear Bears she’s currently watching on the telly is much more important than the mess around her. 

After revising all notes she took in classes, she figured it’ll be a good idea to relax for a bit. Ignore the petulantly glaring boxes and make herself a cup of hot chocolate. 

Probably she would’ve spent her the entirety of her evening like this, rotting in its most satisfying way, if a resonant sound of her doorbell didn’t echo inside her apartment out of nowhere. 

“Did Chaeyoung forget something?” Dahyun mumbled to herself while getting up from the couch. 

Her friend visited her a few days ago and hung out in this huge mess of a flat. They’ve talked, played some games and stained her floor with ketchup when one decided to test out the kitchen and try to make dinner. Maybe in the thrill of the moment, Chaeyoung left something and only now remembered about the forgotten item in her best friend’s new apartment. 

That’s what Dahyun had in mind while walking up to her door. Either it’s Chaeyoung or her father, bothering her all of a sudden. 

But only when she took a peek though the peephole, had she realized how wrong she was. 

“JESUS CHRIST!” Dahyun yelled out while jumping away from the door. 

Not Chaeyoung. Not even her dad. But a big, amber eye, looking even more obscure and terrifying when distorted by the peephole’s lens... That’s what Dahyun saw. 

Only one person came to her mind, that could do such weird thing. 

“What the ?” she questioned Sana, who's initial response was giggling. 

She just stood there, outside of her apartment, arms behind her back and the purest smile against her lips. Sana calmed down, rocking on her heels back and forth, before announcing: 

“I wanted to visit you.” 

The sweet, innocent tone she used sent a wave of heat towards Dahyun that she was sure painted her cheeks in one of the many shades of red. 

“R-Right,” she cleared . “And why’s that?” 

Sana shrugged like it was the most obvious thing. “I just missed my Genie.” 

‘Was the possessive adjective really necessary?’ Dahyun thinks while her face is getting warmer and warmer under Sana’s now strangely seductive gaze. 

She only leaned more on the doorframe, praying that it looks as unbothered and nonchalant as it does in her mind. 

“Don’t call me tha--” 

“Oh my, you still haven’t unpacked?” Sana cuts in, gasping at the sight of boxes scattered inside Dahyun’s apartment she’d caught above the latter’s shoulder. 

The Korean’s eyes widened as she realized her mistake. Dahyun turns around in embarrassment and faced the reason for her feeling that way. Those stupid cardboards... Now as if smirking mockingly at their owner, finding satisfaction in this situation. 

“Sort of,” she lets out, scratching the back of her ear. 

In a matter of seconds, Sana was already walking inside her apartment.  

Quick as wind and completely uninvited. 

“Hey! What are you doing?” Dahyun looks at the burglar who had the nerve to storm inside. 

Sana turns on her heel as the other hesitantly closes the door. “I’ll help you with those.” she explains, nudging one of the boxes with her foot. 

Dahyun blinks a few times. “N-No, I’d rather not.” 

“Dahyunnie, have you been watching cartoons instead of cleaning up your apartment?” 

Another wave of heat attacked Dahyun’s soft features after being scolded by her shameless neighbour. She quickly ran towards the living room and grabbed the remote to turn off the betraying her television. 

Sana chuckles softly while watching her act all panicked. “Chin up, hot stuff. I’m here to help you with