bae joohyun does not go for people she is not interested in

chapter one

***

Lisa encounters a problem with her roommate within five days of cohabitation.

It’s a quarter to ten on a Friday, a little too late for her to be receiving guests at this hour. She’s lounging on her bed, scrolling leisurely on her phone, waiting for the slumber to creep in, when her ears pick up on the telltale beep of their main door.

Joohyun had gone out for dinner at six, something she has been doing ever since she has occupied the room across Lisa’s. Her job is homebased, working as a virtual assistant for an international company. Lisa had learned this as Joohyun had asked for permission to set up her workstation in the living room. Neither of them had brought any entertainment equipment upon moving, and their living room was bare apart from the dining set, the couches and coffee cable it came with, so Lisa had given her a double thumbs up.

And because Lisa spends most of her waking moments outside of her apartment for her profession, she never really gets the chance to know more about her roommate.

Their interactions are limited to greetings. Lisa would be cooking breakfast in the kitchen, while Joohyun does her morning stretch on the floor. The older woman had said she preferred a heavy brunch after declining Lisa’s offer to cook for her. Besides her small appetite and timid nature, Lisa acquires no other information about Joohyun.

Though she is tad taken aback by a second voice, a sultry female voice, following her roommate’s footsteps as they enter their shared unit. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Joohyun has friends. Lisa stays put in her bedroom, a silent offering of space for Joohyun to have with her guest. She wouldn’t want to intrude. But when she hears the unmistakable sound of on the other side of the door, she stiffens on her mattress.

Universal roommate etiquette requires a certain degree of consideration on Lisa’s part. A text message warning of such event would have been sufficient (they have yet to exchange numbers), or a proper adult conversation beforehand (are they even close to be talking about this?). Or earplugs. Earplugs would be greatly appreciated.

Once Joohyun’s door open and closes, Lisa quickly shimmies on her jacket, laces her shoes and beelines out of the apartment, dialing Bam to save her from the Rated-18 happening at her place. She would rather not have a front row seat of her roommate who is in the midst of ing as she is running.

Bam guffaws into the receiver at her predicament, his laughter booming with amusement. How typical of him. Luckily, he is in her neighborhood for his team’s bi-monthly karaoke showdown, and since he has become her saving grace, Lisa humors him.

He tours her to a boardwalk in Hapjeong, letting the calm waters of the Han River somehow erase the lewd noises from earlier. If this had been a vast container of holy water, Lisa would have dived right in, headfirst.

She returns to Myeongdong at around midnight, assuming her roommate would have finished her business. Two hours should do it, right? She glances from the clock on her phone as Bam pokes her on the arm.

“Yo, Lisa, check it out.” He points at her building. “Blackout in your area.”

It is a blackout.

Sort of.

The main reception and the guesthouse on the second floor are bright and lit up. She surmises the residential units must be the ones affected by the power outage.

Looking up to the topmost floor, silhouettes dance along the panes of a glance enclosure comprising half the rooftop, heavily resembling an elevated greenhouse. Their neighbors have most likely assembled up there for fresher air and natural lighting, the moon gracing its luminance above them.

On the fourth floor, a single room radiates a subtle purplish glow, and in it, Lisa could see Joohyun at the opened window alone, assumably observing the still alive streets. It’s 12AM, but this is Myeongdong after all. The streets have barely known sleep throughout their existence.

After bidding Bam goodbye, Lisa jogs up the stairway, her phone light guiding her at every step and crosses paths with a neighbor heading for the opposite direction.

It’s Quirky T-shirt Girl, donning a baggy tee with an inscription of “are you a fruit, ‘cause you’re a fineapple” in a wonky Comic Sans lettering. She sends Lisa a cordial wave with the hand that isn’t holding a flashlight.

“Are we the only building experiencing a blackout?” Lisa asks.

“Maintenance stuff. Weird time to do it, huh? Thirty more minutes and it’ll be done,” Quirky T-shirt Girl explains. “We’re gathered upstairs. You’re free to join us.”

“My roommate’s not much of a people person, and I’d feel extremely bad about abandoning her in the darkness of our apartment.” Lisa has to admit that the invitation has been enticing. There’s just this gravitational pull holding her back.

“Aww, you’re so sweet!” Quirky T-shirt coos and grins widely, her eyes practically disappearing from the act. It’s an adorable sight. She and Wendy could be best friends. “Just head up if you change your mind.”

Lisa is almost tempted to tell her she just might if she hears the slightest moan echoing from her apartment.

To her utter relief, there is no sign of her roommate’s companion. Amidst the dimness of the room, Joohyun is sprawled by herself on the couch that’s parallel by the windowed wall. She gives Lisa a half-smile, slightly wincing from the harshness of her Samsung’s flash angled at the general path of the living room. Lisa diverts her phone, not disregarding the observation that Joohyun has changed into her pajamas.

Her guest really must have left.

On the coffee table, the purplish glow Lisa had seen from below is apparently emitted by the cupcake-shaped lightstick that’s laid on the surface. Lightsticks sure come in handy, she muses inwardly. Lisa makes a mental note to purchase an emergency lamp for these unforeseen occasions.

As she crosses the threshold, her toes brush up on a soft item on the floor. She bends down to inspect the mystery material.

It’s a lacy maroon bra.

“Uh, is this yours?”

Joohyun walks over to her and plucks the offending garment, mulling it over with squinted inspection. “Hmm. Don’t think so. Hold on.” She pads to the couch for her phone.

Lisa stands awkwardly in between the small dining space and living room, shifting her weight from one foot to the other, watching Joohyun press her smartphone over her ear until someone at the other end of the line answers.

“Hey. Did you leave something at my place? Uhuh. Yeah. Have it over here. Yeah, I can meet you tomorrow. Uhuh. I’ll call you. Bye.”

Joohyun ends the call and flops on the couch. She tosses the bra to the ergonomic chair at her workstation where an entertainment system would have been situated.

Using context clues to interpret the snippets of their conversation, Lisa has just unknowingly snatched a bra that belonged to someone else who isn’t her roommate.

Nice.

Lisa pretends to flick off dirt on the dining table to ease the awkwardness hanging in the air. While the incident conjured discomfort, she still wants to be able to live harmoniously with her roommate. This could be her chance to engage in small talk. “Was she, uh, your girlfriend?”

“No. I don’t date.”

“Oh.”

Then teasingly, Joohyun’s tone fluctuates into seduction. “Interested?”

“Wha—um—” Lisa sputters incoherence like a machine gun firing up in rapid succession. She was just curious! The coquettish persona is a new side of her roommate she’s being exposed to.

Beneath the shadows, a Cheshire grin dorns Joohyun’s beautiful face, painting mischief at the seams. Her body has rearranged itself to reenact the pose of the famous sketching scene from the movie, Titanic. Under hooded eyes, she has the younger woman gulping at the dining area.

And here, Lisa understands how silent people can be deadly. Where is the soft-spoken Joohyun from five days ago? Sure, she had stunned the younger woman with her bluntness and unapproachable aura during her arrival, but she had simmered down into the withdrawn and laidback person in the following days.

Lisa wonders if Joohyun has switched bodies with another person while she was gone. Does Joohyun have a twin sister she didn’t know about? An elaborate prank to fluster her for entertainment?

“I’m kidding, Lisa.” Joohyun assures her with a kinder smile this time. “You’re curious.”

Lisa flinches. Damn. She could be read so openly.

“You don’t exactly have a believable poker face. I could decipher your curiosity a mile away.” Okay, Joohyun has her there. The older woman stretches her body along the length of the couch in a lazy manner, head propped on the armrest. “We have nothing else to do tonight. Ask me. I won’t bite. Unless…you want me to?”

Lisa blinks. “Uh, no thank you.”

“You really aren’t interested.” A chuckle rumbles at the base of Joohyun’s throat, highly amused. “Go on. Ask me.”

Lisa bites the bait. She gets comfortable on the one-seater couch, the lone roomy one-seater sofa facing Joohyun’s workstation, thinking of ways to phrase her question that wouldn’t come off as judgmental.

“Was she…was she a one-time kinda thing?”

“Yup.”

“Cool, cool, cool.” Lisa massages her palms on her lap. “I don’t judge, but um, can you at least give me a heads-up next time? I can handle knowing these things, but seeing and hearing on the other hand…”

“Sure. I don’t normally bring them home anyway. She lives an hour from here, and I was getting impatient. My sincere apologies, by the way.”

“Apology accepted.”

“What about you?” Joohyun starts. “Got a girlfriend or boyfriend stashed somewhere? I can tell casual relationships aren’t your forte.”

“Been single since I graduated college.” It’s been a while since she has spoken about her romantic past. She feels her uneasiness dissolve at their little chitchat. “And you’re right. They’re not for me. Don’t think I could survive.”

“You’ll survive if you give yourself a set of rules.”

“Rules?”

“Mhmm.”

“What rules then?”

Lisa folds her legs into a cross-legged squat and rests her chin in her palms supported by propped elbows, feeling like one of her students whenever she would announce to the class that it was story time. Casual relationships do pique her interest. What better way to learn about them than through a source herself?

Then it dawns on Lisa that this is the first genuine conversation she has had with her roommate. A positive turn of events.

Joohyun raises her pointing finger in midair. “Rule number one: Don’t go for people you’re not interested in. It’s a total waste of time. There’s gotta be a connection somewhere, even if it’s only a smidge.”

Fascination blooms at Lisa’s opened mouth, head bobbing up and down at the reasoning.

Joohyun continues to list them off her fingers. “Number two: Let them make the first move. It’s to show them you’re not needy and would gladly entertain other options. Three: Set boundaries between your arrangement and the rest of your personal life. That’s a recipe for disaster. Four: Avoid developing an attachment at all costs. That’s a recipe for an even bigger disaster. And five: Never, ever, propose to make it serious. There’s nothing casual about taking it a step further.”

The hum of the refrigerator buzzes into life as cool white bathes the room into brightness. Someone from above could be heard screaming, “And let there be light!” backed with hoots and a round of applause.

Joohyun rolls and swings her legs to the floor. She switches off her lightstick, directing the cupcake end at Lisa. Her lips curl into a delighted smirk. “I’ll take that as the universe agreeing with me.”

***

In the succeeding week, Lisa and Joohyun’s relationship swiftly upgrades from cohabiting acquaintances to something the younger woman can confidently label as friends.

Joohyun keeps her promise. She has proven to be a woman of her word. No more impromptu one-night stands at the apartment. In the event that she does, she has sworn to text Lisa ahead to prepare herself. Which actually didn’t happen again as Joohyun seems to have taken her philandering someplace else. Her roommate has also extended her apology through a box of premium donuts

The gesture pours warmth into Lisa’s heart.

Their conversations have drifted to a more personal territory, learning tidbits about each other (how Joohyun can’t eat chicken, her unequivocal fear of animals and bugs, how she can sleep peacefully in a split position), and easing into friendly banter.

Lisa really enjoys how her jesting unleashes Joohyun’s inner child.

She arrives home one late afternoon to be yanked on the arm with a “Come with me, let’s go grocery shopping, I’ve got coupons!” And Lisa is a smart shopper. She knows how much of a waste it would be to miss out on the bargains.

That’s how she finds herself wheeling a shopping cart at a local grocery store, maneuvering it into the dry goods aisle, all the while listening to Joohyun’s complaints about a nosy coworker.

“…like seriously, the nerve of some people. Ugh! This is why I work remotely.”

“At peace without the burden of human connection?” Lisa huffs out a tiny laugh. A figure in her peripheral causes her to do a doubletake. It’s a familiar face she often comes across at the elevator, and Lisa does the neighborly thing to do, wave at the woman with a polite smile.

From afar, Pilates Girl reciprocates the distant greeting.

“Precisely, Lisa.” Joohyun pauses her assessment of the assortment of sugar, noticing the friendly exchange between the two women. “Do you know her?”

“She’s from our building.” Pilates girl vanishes over into the produce section with her basket, but Lisa’s gaze can’t seem to divert elsewhere, magnetized by her presence even from several aisles away. “The Pilates teacher I think.”

“Are you saying that because she’s wearing leggings?”

“Our landlady told me so.” It was a random fun fact dumped on her when Pilates Girl had exited the mailroom the other day, and they had traded smiles. Their landlady who was inside as Lisa retrieved her mail, nonchalantly relayed to her that, “She teaches Pilates. Doesn’t her look great?”

And Lisa, being her appreciative self, agrees because those jeans did do wonders to sculpt her toned figure. Lisa is human. She’s allowed to appreciate the finer things in life, Pilates Girl as an example. Her unnamed neighbor is easy on the eyes.

Joohyun elbows her lightly on the rib. “Ooh, she’s pretty, Lisa. Is she your type?”

Lisa doesn’t see the point in running around in circles. “She is very attractive, but looks are so surface level as a basis for a type, don’t you think?”

“You’re so honest.” Joohyun shoots her an eyeroll. “No fun to tease.”

They check off the items in their grocery list that Lisa had typed out in her phone’s memo at the last minute. Somewhere in between the detergents and other laundry essentials, the roommates become entangled in a friendly discourse about the best fabric softener to add to their cart. Lisa would have been contented with a generic kind, but Joohyun may have a strong passion for Downy’s product line.

After Lisa surrenders to the Downy supremacy and loses in the argument altogether, Joohyun’s smug- tugs her to the eastern aisle displaying foreign breakfast cereals for the younger one’s consumption. Lisa is scanning the boxes in mild curiosity, and she distractedly stops at the bird character design of a certain brand.

Joohyun justs her head at the box of Fruit Loops. “You want that?”

“Um. I haven’t tried it.”

“Then today’s your lucky day—” Joohyun’s next words are abruptly cut off when she grasps at nothing but air.

At the crucial millisecond, she is beaten by another shopper wearing a hoodie with a print of a moose shoving its snout down a jar of maple syrup. The shopper’s face brightens up at Lisa in recognition.

“Thailand!”

“Canada!”

Wendy balances a basket in her arm, filled with necessities like two gallons of fresh cow’s milk, adding the last box of Fruit Loops to her loot. Lisa ponders on the milk-to-cereal ratio with the amount of milk. Is that all for the cereal or does she simply enjoy guzzling dairy on a day-to-day regularity? And why not use a cart?

Beside Lisa, Joohyun is scrutinizing Wendy with a sour expression, barely hiding her immense distaste. She’s puffing up her chest and staring down at Wendy as though their neighbor is more than three inches shorter. The intimidating aura that Lisa had felt in their first meeting resurfaces on Joohyun’s hardened features, but gone is the playful hint in her eyes when she had told Lisa that she would be calling her unnie. It’s a lot colder this time, the temperature tuned to a negative.

However, the animosity doesn’t deter Wendy from being the friendliness extraordinaire that she is generally prominent for, all smiles and politeness packed into her five-foot-one stature. “Oh, hey, aren’t you from the unit downstairs?”

“I’m Lisa’s roommate.” Joohyun spits out in a not-so-friendly fashion. “And hey, aren’t you holding something that’s mine?”

“Yours? The Fruit Loops?”

“Yes. We were here first.”

“I didn’t see you reach for it.”

“I was going to.”

“Tough luck, Irene.” Wendy childishly taps her on the nose and side-steps around them to avoid Joohyun’s retaliation. “Later, neighbors!”

Wendy speed-waddles out of the aisle with her loaded basket, the contents of the cereal jiggling mockingly at her frantic departure. Joohyun sports the biggest frown Lisa has had the pleasure of seeing on an adult woman.

“It’s not a big deal, unnie.”

Joohyun’s frown intensifies. “How did she know my name?”

“Everyone in our building knows your name, Joohyun-unnie.” Lisa gives Joohyun a consoling pat on the back as her fuming roommate whines in defeat.

***

“Hello?”

Lisa enters the room like a newborn fawn wandering without its mother, never having stepped foot at the fifth floor. One month in, but she hasn’t explored the other floors including the rooftop, an amenity available for all tenants to hang out in.

If she had taken Quirky T-shirt Girl’s invitation, she might already have. But she regrets nothing from that night since it did bring her and her roommate closer together.

What she has been told is that the office and her landlady’s apartment unit are interconnected. Distinguishing which door led to the office is fairly easy with its frosted glass wall, and the minimalist furnished space must be purely for residents addressing their concerns and bills payment with a desk across the door and two chairs. She ganders at the framed business certifications and family photos littered