Her house looked sad she realized randomly. Well, obviously apartments can’t look like they have emotions, but something about seeing it so empty and void of anything of hers made it look depressing. She grabbed the handle of her last suitcase and walked out. The edge of a letter peeked out from her pocket as she went downstairs, somewhat hoping that he would be there so that she would have an excuse to meet him.

She frowned and shook her head. She didn’t have anywhere to go and here she was worrying about boy problems. No, it wasn’t even boy problems, it was neighbor problems. Still, she smiled behind the large sunglasses as she approached his door and carefully slide her letter under the gap of his door. She hesitated after she had pushed the letter in and thought about the ones that he had sent her, which were now sitting safely in between books in her car. With a bittersweet smile at something that had been fun for a while she pulled her suitcase down to her already stuffed car and somehow managed to squeeze it in.

The road was relatively empty as she drove towards nowhere in particular. She had a job, but nowhere to take a shower or get dressed. Time slipped away from Sun Ae and before she knew it, it was getting dark and she had ended up parked in front of her parent’s house. She looked out towards the perfectly white walls and the neatly trimmed grass. All that, in exchange for giving in to their wishes.

She grabbed her camera and looked through the photographs she had snapped. It wasn’t from arrogance that she simply thought they were beautiful, not because of any of her work, but the subjects themselves were beautiful. Placing the large black camera on the passenger’s seat she locked her doors, reclined the seat and pulled a coat over her body.

Giving up wasn’t an option. They wanted to see her suffer for her dream? Then they would get front row seats she thought stubbornly as she closed her eyes.

~~~~~~

There was a loud knock right by her ears. Sun Ae groaned as she tried to turn on her side only to hit her knee on a hard surface. She struggled to move as every muscle in her body protested loudly. She pulled the coat over her head as there was another knock by her head. What the hell was going on? She thought as she sat up, only to have the sun glaring in her face. As her vision blinked into focus and she took in the interior of her car she realized what was going on. She was officially living in her car….

A knock snapped her out of it as a hooded man stood near her window. She let out a small gasp as she instinctively moved away. The man lowered the scarf he wore and carefully removed the sunglasses that covered his face and she relaxed when she realized it was just Taemin. She lowered the car window a fraction and his frown deepened.

“You were evicted from your apartment and you chose to sleep in your car instead of calling me” He said, his voice annoyed and a little bit hurt, “Your parents had to call me and tell me what was happening”

“I don’t have any duty to call you every time something happens” She said defensively.

“You do when you’re suddenly homeless!” He snapped, surprising her at his sudden moodiness.

“I’m safe ok? Nothing was gonna happen!” She shot back.

“Nothing?! Are you so special this is bulletproof glass?! If some creep happens to walk past and sees a pretty girl out in the open you think he won’t break a simple car window?!” Taemin replied quickly, spilling out his worries.

“…No one was going to do that” Sun Ae said, her voice softer this time.

“Let’s go talk to your parents. I’m sure if we both—“ He began before she interrupted him and shook her head.

“No way. Listen they got me into this mess to begin with! My mom promised me she would let me live in peace as long as I got a job!” Sun Ae said.

“Why are you being so stubborn today?!” Taemin asked rolling his eyes.

Sun Ae frowned at his attitude. Wasn’t he supposed to be on her side? Without a second thought she rolled up her window right in front of his face, taking satisfaction in the way his eyes widened in disbelief.

“Open the door!” He yelled, his voice muffled by the glass. Sun Ae pretended not to hear him as she stared at her steering wheel, “Y-yah I think someone recognized me” He hissed as he glanced at two girls down the street.

Sun Ae glanced up quickly and on instinct unlocked the door. Waiting nervously as Taemin ran around the front and quickly got into the passenger’s seat. On impulse, she started the car and pulled out frowning as they passed the two girls and they didn’t even glance up.

“You were lying” She said, feeling stupid for opening the door in the first place.

Taemin laughed as he took off his sunglasses and settled into the seat, her camera in his lap.

“You can stay at my apartment until you save up a few paychecks for a smaller apartment”

“No way”

“Relax I don’t even go there. I sleep at the dorms and it’s a small one I bought on a whim. No reason why you can’t crash there for a while” He said calmly as he played with her most precious object curiously, wondering what it was about photography that excited her so much.

“That’s still weird”

“Why?”

“It just is Taemin” She replied.

“I’m not letting you sleep in your car again and if you want to be independent wasting your money on a hotel won’t help. I promise it’ll be like renting out the place, but for free. I won’t be allowed in without your permission” He swore, determined to get her to agree. Not only because he had promised her parents he wouldn’t let her sleep in anymore cars, but also because he knew he would be uneasy if she wasn’t somewhere safe.

“I’d rather not” Sun Ae said in a final tone.

“Ok fine, then stay at a hotel until we find you a small place to rent out while you save money” He said as he pulled out his phone and started researching.

“Aren’t you supposed to be busy with other things?” She asked as she stole a quick glance at him and tried not to smile at the image of him bent over his phone, a concentrated frown on his face.

“Hm? Do you keep forgetting the fact that you’re homeless? The other things can wait” He stated as if it was the most obvious fact out there, “Plus I’m on a break for now”

“Well, thanks I guess” She grudgingly admitted.

~~~~~~

Kim Jong In had come to the conclusion that he was very unlucky.

He glared holes into the chrome finishing on the treadmill that he ran on. The numbers flashed by, changing rapidly with every step he took. The frame rattled slightly as his frown deepened and he kicked the speed up a notch. For the thousandth time, his vision changed from the white wall in front of him to the letter laying on his bedside table. Even a week later he was still stuck on it, trying to figure out some deeper meaning from her simple goodbye.

He hated admitting to himself that he might have been the only one getting emotionally attached to those stupid letters they had exchanged. He hated that someone could just discard that so easily and most of all he hated that he hadn’t been able to see her.

It had to be the mystery of it, he thought as his mind returned to the present and he found himself running out of breath. It was because he hadn’t been able to see her that this whole thing was still stuck in his mind he decided stubbornly as he angrily stopped the treadmill and looked down. His chest rose up and down and he distinctly felt a drop of cool sweat roll down his neck as he hopped off.

“Having a bad day?” Taemin asked his best friend as he stretched out an arm holding an iced bottle of water.

Jong In looked up in surprise and smiled as he took the bottle and chugged the water down in huge gulps. The icy liquid burning its way down his chest and providing some much needed relief.

“More like a bad week” He muttered as he took another drink and they walked out of the gym.

“Well it might not be the best time, but I wanted to run an idea by you” Taemin said with a hopeful twinge in his voice.

“Sure” Jong In said, attempting a smile that didn’t quite come off as real because of…other things on his mind.

“You’re gonna debut soon and you know you have to have a profile anyways. Why not submit your own photograph? I’ve got a friend who’s a photographer! She can do it for you and who knows you can casually mention her name if it ends up really good?” Taemin said excitedly as he slapped his friend’s back and grinned.

“I don’t have that much money…. I’m not sure…” Jong In said with hesitation.

“Listen I’ll give you the money. She needs it and she won’t take anything from me. Trust me! Plus you might even know her she used to live at the same apartment building as you” Taemin said trying to think of anything he could say to convince him.

“She did?”

“Yeah she just moved out like a week ago. I think she lived in the floor above yours”

“…S-she moved out a week ago?” Jong In asked.

“Yeah, I’m telling you, you’re gonna love her. She’s one of the nicest people I’ve ever known” Taemin said as he thought about how happy she would be to get a side job, “Will you do it?”

“Yeah I’ll do it!” Jong In said as he felt his heart race for reasons other than the run he had just finished.

Maybe he wasn't as unlucky as he thought.