Jingling the key to unlock the dorm, Eunji stops when a familiar clunky car driving up the empty parking space beside the dorms, its age obvious with the faded family car sticker on the back windshield that Bomi’s father got way back when they were kids and the weathered rusts and scratches all over the vehicle.

In no time, Bomi climbs out of the car, quirking an eyebrow as she gives Eunji a once-over. “What gives? Why’re you all dusty?” asks Bomi, not taking her eyes off her even as she goes towards the back of the car to open the trunk. The noise upon doing so makes it evident that the hinge must be oiled soon.

Looking down her torso, Eunji doesn’t bother making much of an effort to dust down her clothes since she’s going to change and shower soon -  still, small puffs of dust fly off the cloth despite her sorry excuse of dusting.

“Classes,” she replies as if it’s the perfect explanation. It is what it is though. 

However, when a girl in a green parka unexpectedly steps out of Bomi’s car, Eunji suddenly becomes conscious of her appearance and speeds up the dusting of her clothes, her demeanor becoming more polite and presentable by the second. “Hi.” Eunji finally stops everything she’s doing and greets - Bomi seeing her disheveled is one thing, a stranger is another. She throws Bomi a questioning gaze.

“Hello!” The girl in green returns the greetings just as formally with a bright smile, bowing at a ninety-degree angle.

Slowly clapping as she gets in between them, Bomi gains their attention, snapping them out of their sudden awkward meeting - mostly on Eunji’s side, as she isn’t in the most presentable state at the moment. 

“In-depth introductions later guys. Namjoo, this is Jung Eunji, your senior actress - kind of, since she just joined as an actress not too long ago either,” Bomi says quickly as if she’s a game show emcee. “And Eunji, this is Kim Namjoo who showed up for auditions today. Now that’s out of the way, help me into the house with these groceries so we can prep for the welcome party, I’m starving. Chop, chop.”

Snapping out of the surprise that someone actually showed up for the Apink auditions, Eunji briefly bows once more as she excuses herself to finish unlocking the front door of the dorms. Trotting up to the trunk with Bomi, she grabs the rest of the bags.

“Namjoo, please hold the door,” Bomi tells her, snapping Namjoo from her dumbfounded expression when the two of them are enough to carry the groceries.

Namjoo hesitates, reaching her hand out a little. “Are you sure you don’t want me to carry one of those, or…”

“It’s fine. Bbom and I are stronger than we look.” Eunji throws her a reassuring smile, lifting the groceries in emphasis. Lifting weights in the gym much heavier than these helps. “Can’t let tonight’s star of the party have a hard time.”

“You don’t have to make such a big deal out for me.” Namjoo waves a hand abashedly before letting out a gasp, realization evident in her expression. “Oh right! The door.” Namjoo turns around, quickly trotting up the short set of stairs towards the front door. She swings the double doors wide enough for everyone to come through with a push.

-

Sitting around the electric stove, a small bubbling hot pot sits in between them in the common room in front of the TV playing some outdoor variety show. Thanks to helping out with the cooking, Namjoo more or less loosened up around them. It also helped that she turned out just a couple of years younger than them, dissipating the awkwardness to a minimum.

Noticing a thick university lanyard hanging down Namjoo’s neck, Eunji parts her lips. “You’re a student, Namjoo?”

Namjoo nods, taking a swig from her can of Soul A iced tea since she mentioned she can’t handle alcohol earlier. “I’m a graduate school student. I’m currently taking my master's in fine arts in acting at an arts university up north.”

Eunji’s jaw almost drops. Bomi just hit the jackpot. Not only did someone actually show up in the auditions, but Namjoo is also an acting major. This brings Eunji to wonder how Namjoo even found out about Apink. Sharing a look with Bomi, she knows she is asking the same question in her mind.

“What brought you to us anyway? Genuinely curious since as you saw earlier, we aren’t exactly that well-known.” Bomi asks before scarfing down a piece of meat from the hot pot. 

Eunji quickly replaces the meat in the pot with another thick strip of meat along with a piece of shiitake mushroom from the ingredients laid out on the center table. She’d eat the next batch for sure.

“I recently watched a 2011 Apink production I found while cleaning out my uncle’s study at home.” Namjoo doesn’t let Bomi out-eat her and is also heartily taking part in the hotpot, swiftly piling her small plate, much to Eunji’s horror.

Eunji clutches her chopsticks. This is bad, she should get her game on and eat her fill soon or she’d end up just being their cook with an empty stomach for the night. With that, Eunji proceeds to eat as well. Usually, she can keep up with Bomi, the more hearty eater between the two of them. But now that the number of heart eaters increasing to two, the risk of not being able to eat spikes to an all-time high.

“Snow Pink made me cry at almost two in the morning.” Slurp. Eunji’s eyes widen at Namjoo’s speed while eating that fish cake, she almost cannot focus on what the newest actress is saying. It’s astounding how the two can engage in such immersive conversation while their hands and mouths are busy. They’re the type of people buffet restaurant owners will hate. “I especially liked the one who played the main role, Hong Yookyung. Did she leave?”

Tonight’s dinner party is extreme sports. At least to Eunji, as she has to concentrate to make sure she gets enough meat for herself. If Hayoung does accept her offer to join Apink Theater, she’d make sure to tell Bomi she’d be the one handling the shopping. While the portion of the hot pot party in front of them looks more than enough for three people, Namjoo and Bomi together can probably finish these by themselves at the pace they are eating at.

“Eunji?” Bomi calls, breaking her out of her immersion from the table. “What do you say?”

“Huh?” That’s when Eunji notices that she had been too absorbed in getting to eat that the conversation already spiraled in a completely different direction. “What?”

“You’ve been looking at the pot like a competitive eater for a few minutes now.” Namjoo points out, completely unaware that she’s a hu