“May I stay with you?” Kang Seulgi asked.

It was a simple question, really.  But it stunned Joohyun to the core.  She did not know how to react. 

It’s probably because these past few months, Joohyun had withdrawn into a loser’s solitary life with a cat.  She had become socially awkward.

Or perhaps there had been too many goodbyes in her life and so hearing someone wanting to stay with her… somehow sounded bizarre. 

Or it could just be the kiss.  The feel of this ridiculously attractive woman’s lips upon hers startled Joohyun like a defibrillation… like an electric shock which resuscitated her heart that had already given up and stopped beating.  Now, Joohyun’s damn heart was beating so fast— she’s a total mess.

“May I?” Seulgi inquired again.

“May you what…?” Joohyun uttered dumbly.

“May I stay with y—”

“Why???”

Seulgi grinned and softly replied, “Do I need a reason?”

The grin.  Witnessing Seulgi’s lips tug upwards, Joohyun’s heart suddenly did a perfect Olympic-worthy backflip.  She could not utter a word.  If I speak, I’d totally embarrass myself.

Joohyun stood stiffly without saying anything.  Without moving.  Without blinking.

“What’s the harm?”  Seulgi’s hand moved, parting Joohyun’s messy hair so she could see her face.  “It’s not like we have anything better to do…” Seulgi’s knuckles grazed Joohyun’s cheek.

Joohyun swatted the hand away.  “Don’t.”

“Don’t what?”

Don’t touch me.  Don’t smile.  Don’t be too beautiful!  STOP MESSING WITH MY MIND!  Joohyun took a deep breath and firmly said, “It’s better if you and I do our own activities separately tonight.”

After being scolded for touching, Seulgi stuck her hands into the front pockets of her jeans.  “What’s your activity tonight and why can’t I be part of it?”

“I’m in mourning!”  Joohyun shot back, her voice made high-pitched with tension.

Seulgi shrugged.  “So let me grieve with you.”

“DA LING IS MY CAT!”

Instead of being weirded out by Joohyun’s borderline hysterics, Seulgi raised a brow.  “I thought we’ve established that the departed was not completely yours.”

Joohyun was triggered.  She suddenly could not stand Kang Seulgi’s proximity— it’s too much!  Within a foot away, the woman’s physicality was magnified.  The seductive energy was very powerful.  Strangely sensual microwaves were baking Joohyun’s pores.   She needed air—she should leave.  Now! 

But first, she needed to exit strong.

“You may have carried on an affair behind my back, but Da Ling LOVED me… only ME!” she declared dramatically with movie-worthy passion.  “Living or dead, Da Ling was nobody else’s cat but MINE.”

Hah!  Joohyun lifted her chin up and pivoted on her heels to enter her apartment…

(BLAM!)  Joohyun hit her face on the closed door.

 “Oh, !”  Seulgi held Joohyun’s shoulders to stead the petite person's wobbly frame.  “Easy…”

“Owww…”  Joohyun held her face. 

“Are you hurt bad?”

“Uh-huh.”  Joohyun literally saw stars.

“You wanna come in and put ice on that?”

This time, Joohyun no longer resisted.  “Yeah.”

“Yeah?  Okay… let’s go to my apartment.”

**********

Seulgi took some half-melted ice from the freezer, placed the cubes in a bag, wrapped them with a clean kitchen towel and handed it over to Joohyun.  “Here you go.”

“Gomawo (Thank you),” Joohyun said from where she sat in the living room.  She pressed the cold cloth on her injured forehead.

“Stay there,” Seulgi advised.  She disappeared for a while and then…

Click.

Seulgi switched on the battery-operated lamp—the one she bought for camping but never got to use because Ho Min-jong hated bugs and thought there's nothing romantic about the two of them sleeping in the wilderness.

The gadget cast better light than the candles from the cat’s funeral. The lamp illuminated the wreckage that Seulgi created in the peak of her rage a few hours ago.

Seulgi leaned against the wall with arms crossed, watching Joohyun’s careful movements as she stood up from the chair to slowly cross the sea of upturned and broken furniture.  

Joohyun’s head gradually turned to the left and the right and she would sigh every now and then in the process of appraising the damages. In the bedroom and in kitchen, there was hardly any proof of Seulgi’s meltdown.  But here...

Joohyun sighed.  “You ruined so much good stuff.”  She paused and faced Seulgi, like an upright flower in the aftermath of a hurricane.  “Why?”

Seulgi stared at her face.  Seulgi could not understand why she found Joohyun’s face and her expressions and her words so damn absorbing.  Seulgi did not understand why she felt so drawn to her strange neighbor.  Seulgi was totally transfixed by the poetic articulation of Bae Joohyun’s pains, her humor and her ire and quicksilver moods... as told by that very honest face.  “Why what?”

“Why would you ruin them?” Joohyun almost groaned out her grievance over wasted furnishings and fixtures.

 “They’d be ruined anyway,” Seulgi said factually. “When the wrecking ball hits and the entire building collapses, everything here would be destroyed.”

“Yeah, but...” Joohyun grabbed a center table which looked like it was in perfect condition before the owner smashed it against the wall and broke its legs.  “You could have given them to someone in need.” She sought Kang Seulgi’s face and held up the ruined chair. “You could’ve donated them!” 

Seulgi unfolded her arms and opened up her hands, palms up. “I didn’t think o