//

i. 

You know, most people would be welcomed by the mornings with either a dreary downpour pitter-pattering against their foggy windows or the radiant rays of the sun spilling through their blinds. Except 'most people' isn't Sakura, who stood with hunched shoulders and eyes struggling to stay open, in the hallway of her humble abode (occupied by two), looking at the human obstacle which separated her from the living room. Said obstacle— in the form of her roommate— doesn't acknowledge her presence, bespectacled eyes glued to her phone screen where a 20-minute workout video was playing.

"Yunjin, I love you but these morning workouts are getting ridiculous." Her head is pounding— god she really shouldn't have spent so long on the essay last night— Sakura languidly rubs the sleep from her eyes, which burned each passing second. 

For a while, she contemplates on going about the whole day with her eyes closed, maybe get a taste of what being totally visually impared feels like, considering how much her eyes sting even with just a blink. With Yunjin being an in the morning, it didn't help ease her grumpy morning mood any better.

ing essay.

"Hooh- phew! My arms are dying- sorry, what'd you say?" Yunjin croaks out inbetween ragged breaths, on the floor doing a one-arm plank at eight in the freaking morning. She uses her free hand to swiftly push her glasses up her nose when she glances up (only for it to slide down given how much she's sweating right now), grunting every now and then as she works her muscles to the bone in this blinding morning. 

Truly a morning like no other for the Miyawaki. She's going to have to tell Kazuha to stop sending her roommate workout videos.

"Get your off the hallway, I need to pass." Sakura groans, shifting her weight when her heels start to ache, she forgets how long she's been standing, did she fall asleep? Christ, perhaps she should have just gone back to bed, sleep the headache away but Mother Nature is calling and her bladder will literally burst if Yunjin doesn't move right this second.

She can barely see but Yunjin rolling her eyes certainly did not escape her eyesight. The younger woman gives her a dismissive wave, now switching to her other arm. Sakura notes how Yunjin looks oddly attractive when she pulls up her sweater sleeve to her elbows, and buries that thought deep, deep down in the back of her mind.

"It was on impulse- just go over, stop bothering me!" 

It must have been a really spontaneous thought if Yunjin decided to torture her muscles in the cramped hallway instead of their living room. Sakura isn't about to question that, she herself had instances where she wanted to outright put Yunjin in a headlock in public because yaps at nth miles per second, oh she understands.

Now, the intrusive thought in her head is telling her to drop herself on her roommate. Or she's just petty like that.

"If you say so," Sakura curtly answers, ungracefully planting her on Yunjin's hardened stomach. She wanted abs so much, Sakura is merely doing her a favour by offering her entire weight. With this amount of weight, it should guarantee her an instant six-pack, eight even.

Gym? Who's that?

"AH- for the love of god! YOU'RE HEAVY!"

"You wanna repeat that?!"

"I said good morning to you too!"

Yunjin stops doing workouts in the hallway after that.

-

ii. 

"UNNIE I MADE LUNCH!" 

Yunjin's voice blared throughout the apartment like some sort of nuclear explosion, even with her gaming headphones on (she's sure they were noise-canceling when she bought them), her roommate's voice pierces through the earpads like Zeus striking the ground with his thunder.

"I'm in the middle of a game!" Sakura exclaims behind her closed door and shakes her head, then her fingers go back to mashing her keyboard, her gaze once again stuck to her computer screen. Gaming is her nicotine and no one can ever separate-

"Come out!" Suddenly, Yunjin's right outside her door, pounding on it like some kind of loan shark whose money was way overdue. Sakura throws a quick glare at the door which looked like it was about to disintegrate.

"Already did that." She had joked, and honestly it was one she would never get tired of.

It went silent then, and she was starting to think Yunjin had submit and went off, but it's Yunjin, when has she ever? True enough, her door bursts open not even a minute later, revealing her rambunctious blonde roomie with a plate in hand. 

Sakura almost falls off her chair, a couple of years living together and Yunjin still fails to grasp that she gets startled by basically everything. That or she really doesn't have effs to give.

"My god Yunjin- I could've been ." She says, a hand clutching her chest. Her headphones had flown off her head and now the wires are actively trying to strangle her. Great, like her GPA isn't doing that already.

"Oh shoot! Missed opportunity, should I go out and try again?" Yunjin shoots her the most annoying smirk, eyebrows wriggling as she saunters in, the aroma of buttered toast and cheese invading Sakura's nostrils pleasantly.

Her eyes glint expectantly, mouth already watering as she her lips. 

"Yeesh, sounds like someone doesn't have es." Sakura reaches out, only for Yunjin to snatch back her plate with a side-eye. She purses her lips, watching with raised brows as Yunjin picks up the perfectly golden sandwich with her hands instead. 

"Yada yada yada, now open up." 

"What's inside-"

"Nyoooomm here comes the airplane!!" Yunjin doesn't even give her another second when she all but shoves the sandwich into , telling her to take a big bite.

Yunjin leans back with a brief scowl on her face, only because Sakura had bit her finger out of spite, before dissolving into one of her widest grins when Sakura moans the moment the unexpected cinnamon taste melts along with the cheese and ham hits her like a blissful realisation. 

Now, Yunjin wasn't the best cook out there but she was definitely far from worse. Somehow, Sakura realises she especially thrives on Tiktok recipes. 

"Oh... OH, that's actually pretty good." Sakura hums in delight, up the cheese string on her lips which Yunjin had been eyeing. 

Any longer and she thinks she would have kissed them right off. Yunjin blinks several times. 

"I know! The internet can be a pretty amazing place." Yunjin smiles so wide that Sakura thinks she almost resembles the Cheschire Cat, giggles when her roommate gives herself a pat on the shoulder. She was practically gleaming with joy, Sakura realises Yunjin is extra bouncy when she earns praises from her.

She hums upon Yunjin's answer, before leaning back in her chair and closing her eyes.

"Not when I open my Twitter to a 25-centimenter pic in public, I've been traumatised." A shiver travels down her spine, wanting the image that had plaqued her mind recently to go away. Yunjin's loud laughter seizes her poor eardrums suddenly, but one thing is for sure, Sakura would definitely take the ringing white noise in her ears over some freaky looking mushroom online ingrained in her mind anyday.

Yunjin's laughter subsides, leaning against the desk as she bites into the sandwich where Sakura had. Then she arches a brow as she chews.

"We live in a society... can you believe they're just... there?" She speaks with full and pulls a face, and Sakura almost spits out the last of her sandwich as she vigorously nods upon her words, suppressed a laugh seeing Yunjin's offended face. 

Sometimes, they're like this. Barging into each other's rooms just to talk about the most nonsensical or mundane stuff, there was never a dull moment between the two, really.

"Right?! Like I'm talking to a dude and it's just sitting there being a thirdwheel." Sakura motions for more, and Yunjin passes her the whole plate, dusting her fingers to get the crumbs off— to which Sakura looks at her in disdain— before Yunjin visibly freezes with confusion marring her face.

"Wait, you're seeing a dude?" She suddenly asks in a dead tone that it startles Sakura a little, even making her backtrack on her own words. There was also the deepest frown she's ever seen on Yunjin's face, mouth parted in disbelief. 

"No...? I'm just saying." Sakura tilts her head, hesitates to speak for a hot second only because she was uncertain about her roommate's reaction. She was sure she didn't say anything close to that. 

Then it was as if it never happened, Yunjin's face goes back to being her happy self, a broad grin spread across her lips. 

"Oh right right," Yunjin chuckles dryly, clasping her hands awkwardly, something Sakura raised her brows at. 

"...what? You sound relieved." 

Heavens, she is. Yunjin bites the inside of her cheek, then turns on her heel to be on her merry way. Her hand is on the doorknob when she glances back, Sakura's freaking cute confused face makes her want to turn back and kiss it away and tell her heart-fluttering things she would never tell anyone else.

Alas, they remain in her head for now.

"Very." Yunjin asserts, and just as she closes the door, she gives Sakura a toothy grin. "And I'm stealing your popsicle!"

Turning back to her screen, Sakura sighs, brushing aside Yunjin's weird behaviour though just as she was about to put her headphones back on, realisation hit.

"My popsi- HUH YUNJIN DON'T YOU DARE!!"

The next minute, she's scrambling off her gaming chair, almost tripping in the process and then she's fighting Yunjin for her last ice cream. Or it went like this....

"Reach up if you want your ice cream, unnie!"

"I swear, Yunjin!"

"What's the magic word?"

Whatever led Sakura to do what she did— that is, shoving Yunjin until she falls back on the couch and climbing onto her lap, tugging her hoodie strings to reel her in until their faces were inches apart— was purely evil. The priceless look of Yunjin's blanched face and her motionless body melting into the couch was certainly a sight to see.

"My popsicle, please." Rather than a plea, it comes out more like a whispered spell. They were incantations in the form of warm breath ghosting her lips, hooded brown eyes locking into hers and a sly smile on lush lips.

When no reply came, Sakura uses this opportunity to take back what's hers from loose fingers, pulling away like nothing happened before ruffling blonde hair and sauntering away happily.

How pathetic, it was how Yunjin had lost. Both her vocal ability and bodily function. Would she have it any other way? No, not when it came to Miyawaki Sakura.

She would gladly lay her secrets bare to feel like that again.

.

iii.

One thing about having a hyperactive roommate is that they'll never leave you alone. Of course there were boundaries, but in general, the first person who would fall victim in their hands is their roommate when they wanted someone to bother. Which is why Yunjin stood at the frame of her door one afternoon, lower lip pursed, forehead creased and her jelly-like mannerisms depict that she was on the verge of succumbing to the abyss that is boredom. Oh it was almost akin to hell for someone like her.

"I'm boooored, gimme attention." Yunjin drags her words, whining like a child, trudging towards Sakura's bed who glances at her pointedly behind a book, circle-rimmed glasses perching on her nose and all. 

Yunjin stops when something on her desk catches her eye, plodding towards the resin art that lay prettily on Sakura's desk. 

"Usually at this time, you're hanging out with your friends." Sakura appreciates that her roommate doesn't touch it without consent, looks at Yunjin with watchful eyes as she lazily turns around for a brief moment to meet her eyes.

"Are you not one of them?" She says, dragging herself to Sakura's mirror to check her appearance for whatever reason, more like a scrunch of her face and Yunjin turns to move to the edge of her bed.

"I'm basically your mom at this point." A snort, Sakura turns a page, trying very hard not to get distracted by the crawling figure at the corner of her eyes. Yunjin looked like the Grudge except with blonde hair and it was taking everything in her not to slam the book shut and sprint out.

"A very hot mom." That was, until Yunjin said just that. And suddenly Sakura forgets which paragraph she was reading, what line was it again? She double checks that she hasn't skipped a page. 

"Sorry, that was unhinged. It was boredom talking." Yunjin sighs, opting to lay across Sakura's legs, throwing a sheepish glance at the older who raises her eyebrows.

"You think I'm hot?" Sakura tilts her head, lays her book down on her lap, her lips quirking up on one end. Yunjin compliments her everyday, something about her being lucked out for having the most attractive roommate, the thought alone makes her toes curl. The feeling was mutual, but Yunjin didn't have to know that. 

"You don't think so? Girl, if I had your face, I wouldn't stop looking at myself in the mirror." Yunjin chortles, fiddling with the fabric of Sakura's silk pants, eyes drooping.

"You're already doing that though."

An amused hum.

"You get the point." 

Sakura picks up her book again, at the same time, Yunjin sits up and starts crawling towards her.

"Go bother someone else, it's my reading time Yunjin." She says, narrowing her eyes at the blonde who now rests by her side with a dorky grin. And it's just so, very attractive that all she wants to do is hit herself repeatedly with her book. Anything to shove that stupid thought deep down among many others.

"Nope, I wanna spend my Sunday with my favourite grumpy cat." Yunjin cackles, suddenly tapping on Sakura's stomach like a drum.

"I am not grumpy." She says, while donning a frown with those feline eyes of hers that just makes Yunjin smile a little too fondly. 

"Said the grumpy cat. I'll take a nap, I'm not gonna bother you or anything, jeez." 

Then she does the most unthinkable, yet the most Yunjin thing ever. She crawls into Sakura's arms, head ducking under her book and for a split second, their noses almost touched, and Sakura's breath hitched. Yunjin wordlessly buries her head in the curve of her neck.

For a moment, she's too overwhelmed to move. With Yunjin on top of her, warm as ever, long arms circling around her waist, their legs tangled. God, that buzzing, fluttering feeling in the pit of her stomach just won't go away, would it? There's just pure comfort in the way their bodies lay upon each other's. Yunjin puts her duvet to shame. 

"When you said nap, you meant suffocating me." Is what comes out of , because all the pleasant feelings aside, Yunjin might actually asphyxiate her.

A low rumble sounded under her ears, which she assumed came from Yunjin, she feels the vibrations of her lazy chuckles against her chest. Her hand betrays her and a while later, her fingers start carding through Yunjin's blonde locks. Sakura huffs, picking up where she left off in her reading, the book resting on her roommate's back.

"Mmm... my human bolster." Yunjin hums in content, nosing her neck, smiling when she feels goosebumps form on the smooth skin. Sakura almost loses herself when Yunjin moves against her to adjust, the friction driving her crazy, before laying dormant once again.

"When I finish reading and you're still asleep, I'll kick you off my bed."

"Mm.."

What hypocrite, she thinks. She ends up dozing off with Yunjin tangled in her arms— book slipping off her hands, the warmth bestowed upon her was an instant lullaby.

.

iv.

Her tutoring session with Eunchae (read: devil incarnate) ends just as Yunjin's screams echoed throughout the apartment. Double that with the teen's constant loud boasting about her recent, above average mid-term grades while bouncing on her feet and Sakura is in for chronic tinnitus.

"Jesus, I had ears." She grouses woefully, pressing her fingers on her tragi, hoping to block out the sources of noise pollution harrassing her eardrums. 

Yunjin pops her head out of her room in the hallway, a blinding smile plastered on her face. When she meets Sakura's pointed gaze in the living room, her smile turns sheepish, her tongue poking out from the corner of . She spots Eunchae giggling behind the older woman, sneaking a joyful wave to her while Sakura isn't looking, which Yunjin acknowledges with rapid blinks.

"Sorry! SZA just released her album! Wanna listen with me? Pleaseeee." Yunjin's body is halfway out the door now, her headphones that hang around her neck is holding on for its dear life as the distance from the floor decreases.

Sakura remains resolute, wagging a finger at her roommate.

"Sorry, I have to send Eunchae home or else Chaewon's gonna start calling Child Protection Services if I'm even a minute late." She taps Eunchae's arm as a sign to pack up, and the youngest does, rather slow and sluggishly.

"Noo... I don't wanna." Eunchae whines, her cheeks seeming to double in softness when she pouts that Sakura almost relents. 

Almost.

Sakura sighs, then smiles fondly as she assists the teen, placing her files which were colour-coded for each subject into her bag. Somehow, Eunchae always ends up complaining more about leaving than when having to attend her tutor sessions with her. Well, it's all thanks to having a good and fun tutor, the cherry blossom takes pride in herself for that.

"Let's go, tutor session is over." Sakura rises from her seat, halts when a hand tugs at the hem of her cardigan. When she turns, Eunchae is looking at her with the most adorable pair of pleading eyes. What a wicked creature! The effect is too powerful that she feels her chest constricting.

Yunjin's watching firsthand how Sakura immediately mellows out for Eunchae, opts to tell Chaewon that her dear little sister might just get nabbed by her roommate one of these days. 

"At least tell me I did well today?" Eunchae looks up at her with twinkling eyes, and Sakura's hand itches to sign the adoption papers right then.

"Didn't I tell you that for like... the fourth time today?" Sakura looks at her dubiously, even though she appeared firm outside, her insides became mushy, she would happily tell Eunchae as many times as she would like to hear.

"Well... a fifth doesn't hurt right?" Eunchae grins playfully, her gums and pearly whites working their magic as always. She's tugging at her cardigan profusely, it's probably stretching out, but it's Eunchae, so Sakura acquiesces.

"Fine you spoiled child, you did great today." Sakura tells her, pulling on her cheeks and she's so glad she did because when Eunchae laughs, they were like pure ecstasy filling her ears. Trust that if Sakura could, she would grant Eunchae a lifetime of happiness. "Now let's go!" 

"And seriously, thank you for the airpods, unnie."

"No problem little one, I know how badly you've been wanting those. You deserve it." 

Eunchae doesn't even give her a warning when she lunges at her for a bear hug, slender arms hooked around her shoulders, tightening briefly when Sakura releases a grunt as she staggers. She's almost toppling backwards with the weight but manages to save herself by planting a firm foot back. Then she finds herself laughing softly when Eunchae nuzzles her head against her, patting the teen's waist.

If Yunjin takes out her phone to snap a picture, she doesn't know it. Oh and if Chaewon's position as Eunchae's first favourite sister wasn't at risk already, it definitely is now. 

"Aw, I just realised I didn't get to eat Sakuramyeon today..." Eunchae slings her bag over her shoulders, disappointment evident in her actions. 

"The next time you come here, I'll make an Eunchae special okay?"

"YES!" In no time, Eunchae is back in high spirits, before exiting with an extra bounce in her steps.

Yunjin, with her back against the frame of her doorway, just stares with eyes full of affection, doesn't even realise the crooked smile she has on her face. Sakura suddenly stops before the entrance, groping her pants for something missing before whirling around with haste. 

"Oh shoot, forgot my- what are you doing?" She stops again when she meets Yunjin's eyes, scrutinizing her posture as she cautiously grabs her car keys on the counter. 

It's one of those inexplicable looks Yunjin is giving her, it wasn't anything bad— never, Yunjin always looks at her like she holds the galaxy in her hands, like she hangs the stars, like she holds the sun over the horizon... oh.

That was what the inexplicable look was...

"Nothing, just thinking 'bout how great of a mom you would be." Yunjin shrugs, her smile doesn't wane at all when Sakura clears and breaks away from her gaze for a moment. "Also, 'little one'? When she towers over you at sixteen?" 

Yunjin laughs as she ambles to the living room, towards her, in all her lazy bun, tight-fitting tank top and sweatpants glory. Sakura only realises her fit now, taking it all in for the first time today. It's not that it's a rare sight, she just never paid much attention and believe her when she says it's for the greater good. Because something inside her churns, twisting and twisting mercilessly when she runs her eyes down Yunjin's arms, trailing after the moles that decorate her radiant skin. And it's the only time Sakura absolutely abhors the very existence of sleeves because they veil Yunjin's beauty marks like hidden treasures.

She supposes it's fine if she would be the only beholder.

"Hey, she's my giant baby. Also I know, I'm just the best. Just waiting for someone to wife me up." Sakura applauds herself internally for not faltering, and if she did, Yunjin would be doing good by her for not pointing it out.

Then the ing keys just had to slip out her hands, hitting the wooden floor with a resonant thud. Yunjin reaches down first before she could.

"Well, you don't have to search far. That's for sure." Yunjin says, the words coming out firmly like she only wants Sakura to hear it. Then she looks up, smiles her stupid charming smile and Sakura is losing her damn mind when she realises the dangerous proximity between their faces. It's so, so embarrassing when her eyes instantly drop to lock onto plump lips, pale pink and bare from lipstick. She resists the urge to lean in to share hers. The amount of self-control she possesses should be awarded and most of all, revered.

To her annoyance however, like those anticlimactic movies, Yunjin simply turns around and walks away. 

That idiot, attractive roommate of hers walks away, like she hadn't just shoved her heart down .

"Come home fast! I wanna listen to SZA's album with you!" Yunjin disappears into her room, not before blowing her a kiss.

Her muscles are failing her it seems, rigid and motionless as her mind reels back to the moment over and over that the tips of her prominent ears grow ever so scarlet. constricts and her heart is pounding in her ears. No one taught her how to swim in the vast ocean, it's boundless, the waves rock against all of her without an ounce of leniency as she struggles to keep her head out of the water. 

She figures it would be useless anyway, because it's a whirlpool that she's stuck in. And she only hopes that when she gets in, there's only utopia waiting for her— an open field furnished with pretty roses and carnations in full bloom, stretching far and wide, with the sun warming her with its comforting rays. 

It's only when the jagged edge of the key digs too deep into her palm that Sakura breaks out of her trance. Eunchae's voice outside reels her back to reality.

"...."

When Eunchae questions her reddening face, she tells her that Aphrodite paid her a visit. The face Eunchae makes after is so comical that Sakura roars with laughter, then she drives off with her heart in a pleasant frenzy.

—