Warning: Very long chapter filled with nothing much...

The room was silent after he said those two words. So, completely, silent. That was, until, cheering was heard from the 5 boys of U-Kiss who were still at the doorway.

“Woot!” The boy who looked like a cat that Haneul identified as Kim Jaeseop cheered, “Kevin! I’ve never seen you so interested in a girl before!” He said as Kevin turned around. He winked at Kevin.

“Uh…” Haneul felt highly awkward standing there, “Woo Sunghyun, am I correct?” She said softly to him, so nobody but him could hear from their distance.

“Yes.” He replied with an unclear look in his eyes that Haneul couldn’t identify as a certain one type of emotion, “But you can call me Kevin. That’s what everyone calls me. Only my parents call me Sunghyun, and only ever rarely.” He replied softly back to her, staring into her perfect, large, double eye-lidded doe eyes full of innocence staring back up at him into his, and suddenly he felt an uncomfortable feeling inside of him. He frowned. Was he wrong about this girl?

“But Sunghyun’s a nice name.” She said softly to him, cocking her head gently onto her right, causing all the boys and Eun Ae (who decided to join in) to start hooting excitedly, “I’m going to still call you Sunghyun. Is that okay with you?”

“Ah… Of course…” He nodded and smiled gently at her, which only caused more hooting. All the hooting whenever either of them said anything not even hoot-worthy (in his opinion) made him extremely annoyed so he just turned around and glared at them. “Shut up will you guys. Stop hooting like we’re going out or something.”

“But the fact you let her call you Sunghyun… That makes her special, does it not?” Kiseop said slyly.

“Not at all. It’s not like I don’t let you guys call me Sunghyun, you guys are the ones who prefer to call me Kevin. And also, my parents still call me Sunghyun, and when Prez gets annoyed he calls me Sunghyun too… Hey speaking of which, where is Prez?” Kevin said as he looked around the practise room that somehow the president managed to sneak out of without him noticing in the time he was speaking to Haneul.

“He left in the time you were too busy being drawn to her beauty.” Jaeseop said and acted extremely dramatically holding onto Kiseop’s cheeks and put on what he thought was a lovesick look on his face. Kiseop and Jaeseop both leaned in towards each other’s lips, acting like they were in a drama and then at the last moment knocked their foreheads together and started laughing like either complete maniacs, or idiots. Though both were synonymous in Haneul’s dictionary.

“Is this how crazy all of you usually are?” Haneul said stifling a laugh, “I’ve never met people like this before.”

“Really?” Kevin said talking to her again, taking advantage of the chance of when none of the U-Kiss boys were watching.

“Yeah…” Haneul said with a small smile, “I’ve never really met many people before. Well, actually I’ve met a lot of people before, but I’ve never really gotten to know anyone before. If you include Hwayoung but not family, then I really only have 3 friends. One of which is more like my songsaengnim and I don’t even know her age or where she’s really from.” She said softly looking distantly at the boys mucking around playing with the other 4 girls in the room, including Hwayoung and Dongho. Haneul looked up at him with a soft smile, “What the hell am I doing telling you these things when it’s the first time we met.”

“I know right. You’re so silly.” He said while laughing and ruffled her hair gently, feeling somewhat familiar around her, “Though from what you’ve told me, I really think you should get out there and get to know more people. I used to be like you, truthfully, so I know. Having a lot more people you know, and having a lot more people who know you is a lot better than being alone.”

“I’ve never been taught that.” Haneul said with a bitter smile upon her face and continued talking in an even softer voice, if that was even possible, that before. So soft that Kevin had to strain his voice despite being right next to her and actually having good hearing to hear what she was saying. “And my situation doesn’t allow me to know that many people.”

“Why is that?” He asked, curiously.

She looked at him, and wished she could tell this sweet looking boy what the reasons were, but she knew she couldn’t. “Can’t say.” She suddenly said in a normal volume chirpily, causing the other people in the room laughing and playing to realise that Kevin and Haneul were still in the room.

“Yah! You two love birds, come over here to play with us!” Soohyun said as he gestured for the two of them to go over.

“Yah! Hyung!” Kevin shouted back, “Don’t pair me up with someone I barely know on the first day I meet her like that!” Kevin said with a laugh, “Such an immature hyung!”

“What did you say, Woo Sunghyun?” He said in a mock angry voice, then grabbed a water bottle and started to chase Kevin around with it armed in his hands, attempting to squirt Kevin with the water. Haneul just watched with amusement as Soohyun chased Kevin in circles around the room, until on their 5^th round around the room, Soohyun accidentally squirted Haneul. For some unknown reason, the room just gasped at this sudden happening, and before Haneul knew it (and her reactions are very fast, must I say), she saw a bowing Soohyun in front of her. “I am so sorry, Haneul!” He said bowing.

“Ah… No! It’s okay!” Haneul said while laughing, “Why are you apologisinganyway?”

“Because I got you wet of course!” He said and bowed again and again. Haneul touched his arm gently then grabbed onto it to stop him from bowing.

“Please, stop bowing. It makes me feel awkward because I’m young than you, you know.” She said with an awkward smile on her face, “So if anything, please stop bowing.”

“Ah! All you youngins!” Everyone suddenly heard from the door, “It’s already so late at night, what are you all doing here playing ar-… Oh my! Haneul, why is your shirt wet? What happened here while I was gone making some calls? Gosh, you kids are just so full of life. This ahjusshi is jealous, so jealous, sometimes.” He said and sighed and just shook his head, “Anyway. I made the call to the landlady and she has agreed for us to have the two apartments on that floor that are next door to each other and she says she can have a door made to link both of them!”

“Ah… Appa-yah… What are you talking about exactly…?” Soohyun said while blinking a few times, “What two apartments?” He said and blinked confusedly.

Only Hwayoung and Haneul knew what he was talking about at that point in time and made no effort to hide their knowledge. “Why are you joining up the two dorms?” Haneul asked.

“What two dorms, noona?” Dongho said blinking confusedly, “Why would we need two dorms?”

“Because they’re joining our dorm with yours, stupid.” Hwayoung said and whacked Dongho over the head lightly. There was silence in the room after Hwayoung said those words. But the silence did not last long. Just mere seconds after the silence began, and the fact began to sink into everyone’s brains, chaos broke out in the room.

“What!? Next door!?”

“Wahh! We’ll be next door to noona!”

“Wait! How will this work?”

“QUIET!” The president yelled and immediately silence was heard in the room. “Hey. For once you kids actually listen to me when I tell you all to shut up!” He chuckled, “Anyway. The renovations for connecting the two dorms will probably be done anywhere from 2 weeks to a month, or so I hope. And the reason why I’m joining the two dorms up? To help all of you get closer, of course. When two groups in a company are close, it’s great publicity. This way if you guys are actually close, not just faking it, it’s even better! Anymore questions?”

Dongho quickly raised his hand and before the president even asked Dongho to speak he blurted out his question quickly, “Appa, when do we move in?”

“After all the renovation and all the paper work business is finalized, Dongho. Which will probably be a week or so after the renovations are done.”

“And who will cook for us if our ummas aren’t there?” Dongho quickly blurted the question out again, not even a mere second after the president had finished talking.

“Geez! Dongho you’re either extremely impatient or you’re way too excited, and I have a hunch it’s a bit of both.” The president said as everyone except Haneul and Hwayoung laughed, “And that’s another reason for me joining up the two dorms. Of course there’ll be a lock on the door in between from both sides, but it means when you boys are hungry you can always go and bother Hye Su to cook for you or something.”

“Yay for Hye Su umma’s cooking!” Eun Ae exclaimed exitedly, then once again everyone except Haneul and Hwayoung laughed, for they didn’t know what it tasted like.

“Oh. That reminds me, Hwayoung, Haneul, are either of you two any good at cooking?” The president turned to of them and asked, with Dongho who too turned around and looking at them with hopeful eyes.

“Not her.” Haneul said as she pointed her thumb to her right at Hwayoung while shivering as she remembered earlier in the day at 12pm when Hwayoung cooked for Haneul. Well, more like attempted to cook. Haneul ended up having to clean up the remains for Hwayoung and she was the one who cooked in the end. “This girl… Her cooking skills… Just… No comment.” Haneul said while slowly shaking her head.

“Yah! I told you I just need more practise, Haneul! Stop commenting on my cooking like that!” Hwayoung said while pouting and crossing her arms.

“Then can Haneul cook, Hwayoung?” Hoon asking Hwayoung, “Since I don’t think anyone who can’t cook should comment on your cooking like that.”

“Well…” Hwayoung said while looking at Haneul who was glaring back at her, “Unfortunately Haneul can cook. Very well in fact. That means I don’t get to criticize her back which is just such a pity.”

“Noona can cook?” Dongho said with bright eyes, “What can noona cook?”

“Ah, this girl.” Hwayoung said and shook her head, “She’s so good at everything it’s unfair! She can sing, dance, bake, cook in general, play several instruments, speak several languages, she’s strong, she’s smart and she’s pretty.” She finished and puffed her cheeks up, “Her talents could cause a world war amongst jealous people.”

“Noona can bake?” Dongho said with eyes that seemed to shine more than before, if that were even possible, “Bake us something now!” He said commandingly.

“Yah. Don’t talk to your noona in that way.” Kim Nam Hee said as he shook his head, then proceeded to ruffle Dongho’s hair, “You’re such a disrespectful little rascal!”

“I’m sorry but it’s late now and by the time I’ve finished baking anything at home and I bring it here it’ll be way too late.” Haneul said smiling apologetically, “Unless you want to come over to my apartment and stay the night or something. But I’m sure your parents would get worried, Dongho.” She said as she patted his head.

“Wah! Noona! You really are a genius!” He shouted.

“What?” Haneul blinked her eyes blankly.

“Let’s stay over at your house tonight!” He yelled out excitedly, “I want to see where noona lives! And how noona lives! I mean we’ll found out eventually when we move into the dorms together, but we can always find out earlier!” He started patting himself on the back as he turned to the U-Kiss boys, “I’m a genius too, aren’t I? Praise me hyungs, praise me!”

Soohyun simply whacked him on the head, “What kind of silly idea is that! Do you think her apartment can really fit an extra 7 boys and 4 girls? And we don’t have any sleeping bags or blankets with us here, how would we sleep there tonight?”

“Ah, it’s actually 7 boys and 3 girls. Hwayoung’s staying with me at the moment, but I suppose I could fit you all in there anyway… Actually, you know the whole two dorms being connected together by one door idea? My apartment is actually connected to the one next door, because my cousin purchased it like that and got it renovated so then our apartments are connected. I can call for service to bring me up extra blankets and mattresses if you guys all really want to stay over?” She said as she cocked her head slightly on her side with an innocent frown upon her face as she thought, “It seems like an okay idea I suppose… If you all really want to experience what ‘dorm life’ is like a little earlier?” She said as her right hand came up and scratched her head and messed up her hair slightly.

“Wah! Really, noona? You’ll let us stay! But where do you live, and how come your house is big enough to fit…” He paused to count, “12 people in there? It must be massive!”

“Yeah, I suppose it’s quite spacious. It’s got the area of half of the entire floor after all. My cousin doesn’t know the meaning of saving money when it comes to me… He’s such a doting cousin after all.” She said as she laughed. Everyone seemed to stare at her in awe.

“So you live in a penthouse? Are you a rich girl or something?” Kiseop stared at her with an amazed face.

“Nope. Though Soo Jin seems to have the same thoughts as you on that, but as I told Soo Jin before, my cousin’s the rich boy here and he just likes to have someone to spend his money on. I’m his only female cousin so he likes to splurge on me.” Haneul laughed, as that was partly true and part of the reason why she had so many name brand things. The other part, being of course, the IAI whom paid for all of her living costs. “I’m not the rich girl here, trust me. Hwayoung is.”

“Haneul your cousin’s Young Bae, isn’t he?” Hwayoung asked, quickly and smoothly turning the subject away from her own affluent family. Or rather, deceased family.

“Young Bae… As in Dong Young Bae the adopted child of the CEO of the BB Corporation and his wife? And also the next heir to the BB Corporation, Dong Young Bae? That him?” Kevin asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Yep. That’s him.” Haneul said with a wide smile at the thought of her adorable (short) cousin, “That’s him. I’m surprised, Sunghyun. You keep up with the business world?” She said with her big eyes opened up staring at him innocently, “You didn’t seem the type to me. Sorry, I apologise for misjudging you.”

“Ah, just a little bit.” Kevin said while scratching the nape of his neck, “So where do you live?” He said, moving the subject away.

“I actually live near here!” Haneul said with a big smile, “So now that the traffic is a lot calmer than before at rush hour when we were coming here…” Haneul trailed off and looked at Hwayoung with a wink, causing Hwayoung to shudder at her memories of the wild car ride, “It won’t take long at all!” She walked over to her bag and was about to pick it up when she heard a voice.

“Wait,” Eli said while frowning slightly, “You live near Gangnam-gu? So in Songpa-gu or in Seocho-gu?”

Haneul frowned slightly as she bent down to pick up her bag and then straightened up to look Eli in the eye, “No… I live right here in Gangnam-gu…”

“Wah! You’re seriously rich! And you have a penthouse here in Gangnam-gu too?” Dongho said with his mouth wide open.

“Be careful.” Haneul said as she used her right index finger to shove his mouth closed again. “Flies might get in. And yes, like I said my cousin likes to splurge.” She smiled at him slightly, then turned and asked everyone, “So… Do you all want to come then?” She said as she bit her lip. It was probably better to get closer to everyone now so later she could ask them questions without making it seem as strange. She didn’t want to seem strange, asking them lots of questions right after they had acquainted themselves after all. Though she did feel that it was a bad idea to get too close to them since she definitely had to disappear later, whether it be sooner or later. She made a mental note at this point in time to get close, but not too close to them.

“But I don’t really want to sleep in an apartment with these immature boys.” Hye Su stated, the first words she’d spoken to Haneul all night. “Who knows what they’ll do?” She said while blowing on her fringe which made it fly up.

“As I said, my apartment is connected to my cousin’s… I can have the boys sleep in my cousin’s apartment if you wish? That’ll really give us a feel of what it’ll be like when we do move in to the dorms after all.” Haneul said with a big smile, “Now we must make our decision quickly before it gets any later. President Kim, you don’t strongly disagree to all of them staying in my apartment, do you?”

“No. Of course not.” He said with a wide grin, “I think it’s a fantastic idea for you all to get acquainted and get to know each other better! Well this is mostly for you and Hwayoung, since the boys are obviously close and the girls actually know the 7 boys quite well anyways.”

“Alright! Noona, I’m definitely coming over! Just let me call my umma and tell her!” He said as he rushed out of the room, to grab his phone and phone his mother, Haneul presumed.

“Me too.”, “And me.”, “Hang on as I call my mother.”, “I’ll tell my parents now.” Were the things that Haneul heard within the next few seconds as the boys slowly one by one left the practise room.

“Of course I’ll come to my new dongsaeng’s house! Your new unnie needs to see what it’s like after all!” Eun Ae cutely squealed as she ran to the other end of the practise room, fished out her bag and started dialling a number.

“I think this is a fantastic idea, Haneul. I’ll just inform my roommate that I won’t be going home tonight. Thank you for inviting us over, Haneul.” Hye Su said formally as she bowed to Haneul in what she guessed to be gratitude.

“Ah, no. Don’t bother bowing at me. It’s strange cos you’re older than me.” Haneul laughed awkwardly. Hye Su nodded a few times, then walked over to the same end of the room where Eun Ae was calling someone with vivid motions while jumping up and down excitedly. Haneul looked at Soo Jin who was the only one left in front of her. “So…” Haneul awkwardly began, “Are you going to come as well? Look, I’m sorry for talking to you like that before, but I really just dislike it when people look down on me.” Haneul apologised as she bowed to Soo Jin who just awkwardly laughed.

“No… I suppose it’s kind of my problem for arousing your anger in the first place. But still, don’t talk to me like that in future, okay?” She said while narrowing one of her eyes at Haneul. Haneul shook her head and watched as Soo Jin too walked over to the end of the room Eun Ae was jumping up and down at and Soo Jin was calmly talking to whomever was at the other end of the line.

“Why did you invite them over?” Haneul suddenly heard Hwayoung hiss from next to her, “Don’t you think your cover will be blown?”

“Hwayoung, think about it for a moment.” Haneul said as she placed a hand on Hwayoung’s shoulder which was slightly higher than her own, “My house wouldn’t be my house,” Haneul said, placing great emphasis on the second ‘my’ and then paused, “Unless I had a way of hiding everything immediately, would it?” Haneul said with a smirk as she brought out her iPhone.

“What are you doing?”

“Hiding stuff.” Haneul said as she unlocked her phone and opened an application called ‘Photo Safe’.

“Hiding pictures on your phone?” Hwayoung asked quizzically.

“Not quite.” Haneul said as she tapped a code into the home screen of the application. “You see, this code I’m putting in right now is a special one which will activate… Let’s just say, certain things to happen in my home.” Haneul locked her phone with a slight smirk as she put it back into her pocket. “Nobody will be seeing or knowing about the other side of Jang Haneul anytime soon.”

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A/N

By the way, I've changed it in chapter 16 from 'single door on the floor' to 'the single door in plain sight on the floor. (plain sight because Hwayoung could tell that there was another door some way down the corridor)', because I had an idea change... Just a heads up for any of my readers that have already read chapter 16 and are getting confused...