“Room 143, the water runs out anytime and uhm then there’s thin walls that you may hear noises from the other room. Fortunately, there’s only one occupant in that part of area, IF you will take the room. As per your query, eh… it’s cheaper than the other rooms. There are still things to be fixed other than the water problem. So, Miss, are you willing to take the room?” A lady with glasses perching on her nose with her cold look, staring at the contemplating red haired girl with her two luggages resting on the floor. Fidgeting her ballpoint pen against her desk forcefully which then makes the girl snaps out from her trance. Not long after, a smile plasters on her face, nodding in agreement.

The landlady clasps her hands in joy that finally for almost a year, a willing occupant takes the room. She holds out a lease contract towards the girl and after reading the terms and conditions, she does not hesitate to sign it.

“Kim Minji! Nice name. Here’s your keys and enjoy?” The landlady named Mrs. Lee, fakes a smile and Minji takes the keys heaving a sigh. As she is about to carry her luggages towards her room, Mrs. Lee calls for her name with another trivial information.

“Oh! Miss Minji! If ever the water runs out, just knock on the next occupant’s door for help! She already knew the context in there. She’s nice, don’t worry!” Minji’s head turns around and says: “Thank you!” in response.

Two luggages on both of her hands and a packbag on her back which slows her down. The key is barely hanging on her left middle finger as her eyes roam around the empty halls of the building. Mrs. Lee said that her room is located at the very end of the floor and there are only three rooms available in there. One is already occupied and the other will be occupied by her.

“I could’ve choose the other room but you’re saving up money, Kim Minji. And this is not yet bad” She mumbles to herself. And before she could reach her room, the key decided to let go of her hold. She groans as she crouches down to pick it up. Regaining her composure, she deeply sighs in front of her newfound home. The sound of the key jiggling makes her smile and when the door opens, that’s when she knows her new independent life have started.

She begins to unpack her things, her working clothes are set to put in order per day on a small dresser near her bed and her pajamas she arranged according to its color from darker pink to lighter pink neatly folded inside the cabinet along with her undergarments.

Her first night in her new apartment goes very well. Thankfully, the water runs smoothly during her first shower for she does not have the energy to be acquainted with the other occupant next door.

“I hope she’s nice” she says before she plops herself towards her comfortable bed. As she was about to close her eyes to sleep, she heard muffled noises behind the thin walls.

“Must be the other occupant” she says, looking at the ceiling. She groans as she flips over away from the wall but then a cute shrill voice makes her ears perk up like a wolf. Interestingly, she gets up despite her exhaustion and puts her left ear against the wall to listen.

The thin walls is ironically an advantage for her as the voice gets sharper everytime the person utters a word.

“How’s my babies? It’s late, you two have to go to sleep. Hng” Minji slightly smiles at the rise and fall intonation from the person she presumably thinks to be a girl. She can imagine the girl portrays a pouty face while talking.

‘Cute’ she thought.

She keeps on listening until the girl next room stops talking. She then slowly gets back to her bed and covers herself with her pink rabbit patterned blanket. But that voice keeps her up all night, something about it draws her into the vastness of horizon she has yet to discover.

~~

With a huge grin on her face, she knocks on the girl’s door. The aroma of the coffee in her hand enters her nostrils while she awaits for the door to open. After trying three times, she slouches in disappointment and heaves a deep sigh slowly walking back to her apartment with her bitter coffee.

“She is probably out already” whispers Minji.

Then, as she is about to open the door of her apartment, a cold intimidating voice speaks to her. She is both surprise and confuse hearing the voice next door.

“Was it you?” asks the girl, raising her brows. Minji turns around to see a black haired girl with her striped turtle neck dress coldly staring at her shocked state.

Taken aback, she widens her eyes stun as her hands trembles while extending the coffee she made earlier towards the girl and stutters:

“I-uh made you coffee uhm I…” a hand accidentally smacks her face as she tries to move closer to the black haired girl.

“Uh” the black haired girl trails from her own words as she widens her eyes when her hand touches the stranger’s whole face but then she carefully examines her face as the corners of her lips lift on their own.

“I don’t drink coffee” she rather monotonously says and hurriedly walks pass by the red haired girl leaving her dumbfounded.

“Eh?” Minji manages to utter as the coffee slips from her grip and caresses her face with her eyes wide open, still in shock. She shakes her head and lets out a chuckle and whispers to herself:

“A fling probably” having a hard time to decipher the voice that she just met have the same cute and pouty high pitched voice she heard the night before. So, she thinks that the girl she just met is just a fling of the owner of the room. Probably. 

“Oh !” she curses when she sees the spilled broken cup of coffee on the floor, preoccupied of what had transpired earlier.

“She looks mesmerizing though”  recalling that wolf gaze eyes that perfectly fits the black haired girl’s cold intimidating aura.

~~

“Damn! Must be the new occupant”  she screams inwardly as she types forcefully on her keyboard causing her colleague slash friend calls for her name. She loves her work as a marketing assistant in a technology industry but sometimes her colleague loves teasing her almost everyday on how have been she’s single since birth. As if her friend is not as single as her. 

“Lee Siyeon! We don’t have a spare keyboard to replace yours. What’s up?!” A small girl chuckles behind her. She looks up and gives her a bleak smile.

“N-nothing, Bora” she stutters and ignores her friend and continues what she is doing as a smirk plasters on her friend’s face.

“Tell me! Did you happen to meet a girl that flutters your heart?” That question makes Siyeon curious and stops what she is currently doing. Bora, on the other hand, nods with a wide grin on her face, knowing she just makes her friend ponder.

‘She definitely have someone in her mind.’ Bora mentally says.

“Did she?”

“Aish! She’s a stranger, Siyeon”

“But her alluring eyes, those galaxy round orbs”

“Don’t let me start with her smile. Brighter than the sun”

“Her red hair matches her red flannel and the coffee…”

“! The coffee!”

“Bummer! It’s probably tastes better than Starbucks”

Her train of thoughts are abruptly interrupted by Bora’s little tease comment.

“Whipped!” Siyeon glares at her friend who quickly takes a magazine on her table.

“Cream, Siyeon. Tastes good, hmm?” Bora then says, pointing at a cup of coffee with whipped cream on top. The two girls then shared a laughter.

Later that day after work, Bora convinced Siyeon to buy coffee at a coffee shop near her apartment. They both ordered Iced Americano and laughed their way out of the shop only to be bump by a familiar figure she thinks the whole day.

Siyeon takes a sip of her bitter coffee staring at the red haired girl’s physique. The latter tilts her head and raises her brows as her finger points at the coffee she is drinking. The girl nods and pouts, shrugging in frustration.

The black haired girl coughs when she realizes what she had said earlier. As she is about to open to explain, the girl widely smiles and mumbles:

“Coffee allergic in the morning, I guess” Siyeon gasps when she clearly heard what the girl had said who is already inside the shop taking her order.

“So, that’s the girl, huh? She’s pretty, I would date her” Bora teases. Eventually, Siyeon pats her head like a child and quickly runs way from her friend. She knows definitely that Bora would chase her down. And she is not wrong though because Bora did. 

Siyeon cautiously walks down the hallways towards her room, careful not to meet with a certain red haired girl. She is ashamed to even face her. She refuses the girl’s kind offer early in the morning because she did not like coffee but only to be found out the same day that she does like coffee. It was her overpowering panicky feeling that got best of her during that time. It might not be that convincing since her voice sounds so cold and stoic but deep inside her head, she was actually going insane. She has that control over her face and sound but not with her words.

“I wonder what’s her name, though” she utters before she launches herself to her couch.

“I bet it’s beautiful, just like her” she smiles.

On the other side of the room, Minji is frantically shaking her head for about ten minutes the time she went home from work.

“Unbelievably cute yet still intimidating” Minji sighs deeply, slightly smiling.

“I haven’t got her name. Bet it’s nice just like her voice” she says, laughing at her own sarcasm. Then there it is again, the voice that made her curious the whole day. It still sounds the same just like the night before. It’s soothing to hear and the way she says the words in a singsong voice flutters her heart.

~~

The next day, a loud banging on her door is evidently making her antsy as she is washing her dishes from last night that she forgot to attend to due to the fact that the girl next door’s on her mind stuck like glue.

She wipes the bubbles on her apron and curses under her breath. She is certain that the person behind the door banging is her mother.

“It’s early in the morning and I’ll have to go through another nagging” whispers Siyeon.

She takes heavy steps and forcefully opens her apartment door with a grumpy expression painted on her face. But as soon as she sees the figure with only a towel wraps around her body, her damp red hair seems to lose its brightness and the remnants of the soap on her face, nervously smiling at her makes her mind go crazy. Siyeon takes a step back and looks away, realizing she had been looking at the red haired girl’s body for she does not know for how long.

“Uhm, se-seems like the water runs out” she stutters, receiving a nervous laugh from the girl.

“Yeah, I apologize if this bothers you. Ah, the landlady says I could go here anytime it happens... for help” says Minji as Siyeon reluctantly nods and gestures her to come into her humble abode. Minji looks around the neat room and spots pairs of ramen noodles on her dining table.

“Uhm, since you have unfinished business, you can finish it here” Siyeon manages to utter in her cold tone but not soon after she gasps loudly when she realizes what she had said.

“I mean you still have to finish shower” Minji chuckles as she sees Siyeon in her panic state.

“Uh, whe-where’s your bathroom?” Minji stutters still intimidated at Siyeon’s physique. She points right near the kitchen, not looking at her. As soon as Minji enters the bathroom, Siyeon exhales out a heavy sigh that she holds on for long.

Meanwhile, Minji’s humming a song inside the bathroom. A feeling of embarrassment engulfs her as she recalls her abrupt appearance in front of her neighbor’s door. But then she had to since she’s late at work and she doesn’t want to get fired just because of her tardiness.

Siyeon sits on her couch waiting for the stranger inside her bathroom to come out. Her thoughts still travels on the girl who is almost which happens to be her neighbor.

“Why did she has to be that hot?” 

“And why do I sound rude?”

“You still didn’t get her name” 

A voice so soft speaks as Siyeon stands up so quick she even loses her balance.

“Uh, the water’s warm. I like it” Minji says.

Her eyes widen, gulping so hard when the red haired girl drying up her hair with her spare towel where another towel wraps her body.

“Hmm...” Siyeon nods, her feet seem to move on its own towards the girl who was stepping out away from the bathroom.

“Than...” she smiles at the girl. Unknowingly, she slips on her own damp feet as her eyes turns widely shock and just prays for a moment she won’t hurt her body, closing her eyes. She is not wrong.

She lands on a soft body as their lips touch.

Body?

Lips?

Minji opens her eyes only to be staring at a girl’s surprised orbs. She tries to stand up and as she does, she feels a soft palm lightly touching her right chest.

“Uhhh, I think you just touched my uh” Minji utters awkwardly.

“Oh ! Sorry! I didn’t mean to” Siyeon panics, getting her hand out from the girl. She moves out of her reflexes as she did not intend to touch anything, let alone kiss a stranger. But then, they did. Unexpectedly.

Minji struggles to stand up, her eyes blink fast trying to forget another embarrassment of the day.

A moment of silence.

An awkward one.

But the black haired girl breaks the ice as she senses Minji’s zoning out for a bit.

“I’m uh Lee Siyeon..” she holds out her hand for a handshake where the other girl nervously takes.

“K-Kim Minji. I have t-to go. Thank you!” she slightly smiles as she hurriedly runs away from the apartment.

“What an amazing peculiar meeting” Siyeon blurts out, another deep sigh.

~~

“Lee Siyeon, a bit rude. I can’t even picture her speaking in such a cute voice” Minji whispers to herself, walking towards her office.

Sighing deeply, a tap on her shoulders makes her flinch and clutches her hands to her chest only to see her workmate, Handong grinning at her. She works at an entertainment company as a clerk but she hopes that one day she gets to produce her own song. The very reason why she chose the job, even though she’s a rank and file employee, atleast it’s a stepping stone for her dream.

“That sigh mean something, Ms. Kim” Handong says playfully as she wraps her hands around her workmate’s shoulders.

“Miss Handong, I almost run in late going to work because my water runs out. That’s because” she lies, receiving a chuckle from her friend.

“Okay, thankfully your neighbor didn’t curse at you or killed you with her gaze, eh?” Handong smirks when she sees her friend freeze at the question.

“Or did you?!” she exclaims and is quickly dodge her friend’s inevitable smack.

“Dong dong! this girl really” she shakes her head as she sees her friend sticking out her tongue at her.

“She makes my heart flutter tho” she smiles at the thought and chase her friend after.

“That kiss” she puts her fingers on her lips, recalling the accidental kiss.

~~

Before going home, Minji decides to take a stop at the cafe shop where she met the black haired girl’s sipping coffee that refused her coffee early in the morning the other day.

“Two iced americano, please” she orders, smiling at the attendant.

She is in her neighbor’s front door, looking at it intensely. Contemplating whether she should give the coffee personally or just knock and put the coffee on her neighbor’s doorstep and run away to her room and wait. It’s still engraved on her mind. She just could not forget the look in Siyeon’s eyes. Her whole face, rather.

Since she could not face her because of what transpired earlier so after a few minutes of thinking, she chooses the second option: run away. 

She stands against her door, panting probably because of the rush and fluttering feelings of simply putting the coffee in the doorstep. Eh, her growing feeling towards the girl perhaps. 

Siyeon who just got into her room, paces towards her door when she heard a knock. There she sees coffee on her doorstep with a little note barely hanging on the plastic cup.

“Bitterness for so much sweetness earlier. Thank you :)” she smiles at the subtlety of the message but she definitely knows who and where this came from.

“Kim Minji” she mutters and takes a bitter sip from the drink.

“Bittersweet” she adds before she closes the door.

The next morning, Minji sighs in relief as water drips out to the sink. She might have regret writing a bit of a cringy note on the coffee, grunting in embarrassment.

There, she heard a knock on her door. When she opens it, a cooked ramen noodles found on her doorstep with a note saying:

“Keep yourself warm, it’s cold in the morning. Sorry” Her face beams at the message.

“Even in messages, you manage to flutter me.  But still you intimidated me” she whispers.

It must be the feelings urging both the girls to send notes everyday for the past three days but then no words came out of their lips everytime their eyes met each other’s gazes. Instead, they both tried to avoid each other by abruptly running away from their very person.

 

There is one time where Minji’s water runs out again and she really needs to reach out to her neighbor even though the last time she did, they both kissed accidentally.

“H-hey” Minji nervously smiled, waving her hand to Siyeon who’s hair is disheveled. Despite her poker face, Siyeon did not hesitate to let the girl into her house again. Hoping this time, no unfortunate event would happen.

“I see, come in” Siyeon says.

“Thank you” Minji whispers. This was their very first normal talk since