Jihyun was trying very hard to sleep after a long day at school. Hyorin was right, the first day of school had been surprising, but she couldn’t get to sleep because her neighbors next door were making a loud ruckus.

Hyorin had already been sleeping like a log but she just couldn’t get to sleep because she was a light sleeper and was easily woken by noises.

“Just try to sleep, Jihyun…” She told herself as she didn’t want to form a bad impression for her neighbors on the first day she moves into the dorms.

“YES I WIN!” She heard a voice and howling from the other room again, for the nth time that night. She had been enduring it since she was in bed 2 hours ago and after debating, she told herself that was the last straw. “That’s it!” She said angrily as she got out of bed and put on her bedroom slippers, stomping out of the door.

She knocked on the neighbor’s door thrice, trying not to make it sound urgent, but she couldn’t help it, it was 3am in the morning and they were being so noisy.

The door flung open and Jihyun widened her eyes to see the petty guy she had encountered earlier in school.

“You?!” They both shouted at the same time, completely unaware of the fact that they were neighbors.

“What the hell do you want and why are you at my dorm? You aren’t stalking me, are you?” Sehun raised an amused smile. Jihyun was dumbfounded, “Who the hell does he think he is?!”

Seeing Jihyun’s dumbfounded expression, Sehun assumed he was right. “Ah, so I was right! You’re a pretty good actress aren’t you? Acting like you’re all innocent in front of Luhan hyung to gain his trust.” Sehun scoffed.

Jihyun snapped. She was just as shocked as him and now he was accusing her of stalking him. “What the hell? I think I have every right to come over to ask you to shut up considering the fact that you’re making such a big ruckus in the middle of the night, causing me to be unable to sleep because I live next door and I can basically hear everything going on.” Jihyun said nonchalantly as she crossed her arms in anger.

This time, it was Sehun’s turn to be dumbfounded. “You live next door?”

“Yes, I live next door, so please take you and your conceited attitude away and stop making so much noises, because in case you didn’t know, it’s 3am and you’re waking the whole building up.” Jihyun chided and walked back to her dorm.

Sehun quickly held the door and peered over the thin wall separating the two rooms, true enough, Jihyun slotted in a key and entered it, after which slamming the door shut.

“So she really lives here…” Sehun thought guiltily and when he entered the dorm, he asked his hyungs to quieten down. He didn’t particularly like her, but if he was in her position, he definitely didn’t want a bunch of teenage boys disrupting his sleep especially when there’s school the next day.

“Who was that?” Lay asked and Sehun shrugged. “My neighbor.” He said and Luhan turned to him. “We have a neighbor?” He raised his eyebrows and Sehun nodded. “Yeah.” Sehun didn’t want to elaborate on the incident where he misunderstood her just now so he quickly changed the subject.

“I think we should sleep soon, I’m getting tired. One last game and let’s all go to sleep.” Sehun announced and the rest agreed. “Yeah, I’m getting tired too.” Baekhyun said as he rubbed his eyes.

--

Jihyun decided to get up earlier the next day for a jog while Hyorin rather sleep in instead. After going over to Sehun’s dorm to tell him off last night, she was glad that the noise had stopped and she immediately fell asleep after that.

She got her running gear and headphones before heading towards the nearby park. While she was in immersed in her own world and surrounded by music as she ran, she suddenly felt a tap on her shoulder.

Shocked for a moment, her defensive mode immediately came on and she hit the person in the stomach.

“Ow!” She heard before she turned around and saw Luhan clutching his stomach in pain.

“Omo! I’m so sorry!” She pulled out her headphones and ran towards him to support him. “Are you okay?”

“Wouldn’t I look stupid if I was hurt because I got hit by a girl?” Luhan raised his eyebrows, amused by her as he straightened up.

“Well, if you’re fine and there’s nothing else, I would like to continue my run.” Jihyun rolled her eyes and attempted to put on her headphones. “Wait.” Luhan said as he held onto her wrist, making Jihyun stop in her tracks.

“I’ll run with you.” Luhan said as he got up from the seat, and that was when Jihyun noticed he was decked in his running gear as well. “Sure.” She shrugged; running alone could get boring sometimes.

They ran in silence, with Jihyun lost in her own world while Luhan occasionally snuck glances at her.

When they were done, Jihyun was about to head back to the dorm when Luhan suggested, “Why not we go for some breakfast? School doesn’t start till 2 hours later.” Jihyun mentally thought about her schedule and readily agreed. She was hungry and she had the same schedule as Luhan, her classes were going to start at 11am and it was only 9am.

“Where are we going?” Jihyun asked and Luhan smiled. “What do you feel like eating?”

“How does Tteokbokki and Kimchi pancakes sound?” Jihyun asked with sparkling eyes and Luhan gave a weird look, but couldn’t help but cackle, “You never fail to surprise me.”

“I know, I’m special.” Jihyun said haughtily as she skipped towards the nearby food stall while Luhan shook his head and followed her.

True enough, they ended up at a food stall near the dorms and Luhan could tell the ahjumma was surprised to see two teenagers choosing her stall for breakfast, as these food stalls were normally only busy during lunch or dinner time.

“Two servings of Tteokbokki and Kimchi pancakes please!” Jihyun said sweetly as she settled down on the seats while Luhan took the seat beside her.

Silence enveloped the both of them before Jihyun broke it, she couldn’t stand awkward atmospheres.

“I thought you’re a senior? Why are you in the same class as me for English?” Jihyun asked curiously. “Actually… I failed English.” Luhan said sheepishly and Jihyun nodded politely, trying to stifle her laughter.

“It’s okay; we’re bound to bad at something.” Jihyun comforted and Luhan shrugged. “Nah, I’m over it. Besides, I gained a new friend.” He let out a smile and Jihyun laughed. “A pretty and smart one in fact.” Jihyun self-praised and Luhan laughed.

“Well… I don’t know about that.” Luhan teased and Jihyun frowned. “What? You don’t agree?”

“We’ll have to see.” Luhan said and remained silent as Jihyun pouted.

“Whatever, you’re getting one less Tteokbokki later.” Jihyun said childishly while Luhan chortled. “You greedy pig.”

After fighting over the last Tteokbokki and Kimchi pancake, which resulted in Jihyun having both because Luhan was amused by her reactions, they decided to head back to prepare for class.

“You stay at the dorms too?” He asked and she nodded, “Yeah, you?”

“Yeah, me too.” He said as they entered the apartment complex together. Both of their hands went to ‘Floor 15’ together and they turned to look at each other.

“You live on the 15^th floor as well?” They both said together before chuckling. “Yeah, I do.” They said together again.

They rode the elevator in silence and stepped out of the lift, only to head in the same direction again. There were only two units at the end of the direction where they were walking to, and that’s when it hit them.

They were neighbors.

“Wait, you’re living at dorm 159? Luhan asked and Jihyun nodded warily. “You live with that jerk in dorm 158?” She raised her eyebrows.

“Jerk? You mean Sehun? How did you know Sehun lived in dorm 158?” He asked questioningly. “You guys were making so much noise last night so I went over to ask you guys to tone it down and Sehun thought I was your stalker or something.” Jihyun rolled her eyes.

“You came over last night? So you were the neighbor Sehun was talking about?” Luhan asked curiously. He didn’t know that Jihyun was the one who came over, and it was unexpected that Sehun would actually care to ask the guys to quieten down.

“Yeah. It would be really helpful if you guys could stop shouting in the middle of the night though, unlike you guys, I need sleep.” Jihyun commented and Luhan nodded. “Sorry about that.” He said sheepishly as he rubbed his neck awkwardly. “I guess I’ll see you at school later then?” He asked and Jihyun nodded.

“Yeah, see you later.” She smiled and entered her dorm.

Unknowingly, a smile formed on Luhan’s lips. He entered the dorm happily, and noticed that Sehun was already awake.

“Morning jog?” Sehun asked and Luhan nodded. “Yeah.” He said, still smiling. “What’s up with you?” Sehun raised his eyebrows.

“How come you didn’t tell me Jihyun’s our neighbor?” Luhan asked and Sehun raised his eyebrows, “Who’s Jihyun?”

“Kim Jihyun, The girl you quarreled with at the library yesterday.” Luhan reminded. “So that’s her name, Jihyun.” Sehun thought.

“There’s nothing worth mentioning. She’s just another girl.” He shrugged. “Well, an interesting girl in this case.” Luhan corrected and Sehun whipped his head towards him.

“Hyung, all the girls in this world are the same. You thought they are different, they make you feel different, and just when you thought they were special and want to give them the world, they crush you, they freaking crush you.” Sehun said agitatedly and Luhan could see the anger in his eyes.

“Sehun, it’s been so long, you still can’t forget about it?” He asked softly, with empathy in his eyes.

“How could I ever, hyung?” Sehun whispered as he put his head back to hold in the tears that were threatening to fall.

Jihyun skipped to school upon feeling energized from a morning run and breakfast, while Hyorin dragged herself groggily to the gates. “I don’t understand how you can dread school two days ago and now you’re looking like a hyperactive kid who’s excited for her first day of school.”

“I told you, you should have gotten up early for morning runs and breakfast.” Jihyun said casually while Hyorin shot her a look of disgust. “That’s too healthy for me. I’d rather get a few more minutes in bed than get myself sweaty.” Hyorin said while Jihyun laughed.

They were definitely different, Hyorin loved fashion and magazines, but Jihyun preferred sweats and books. Hyorin preferred air-conditioned places, but Jihyun preferred nature and adventures. Nevertheless, they had grown to accept each other’s choices and stayed as best friends.

The two settled in their usual seat while waiting for the teacher to enter, and a knock on Jihyun’s table had gained her attention. She turned to her right to see Hyorin sleeping, and then looked up to see the owner of the hand.

“Morning.” Tao said as he let out a smile while Jihyun returned it.

“So, would you like to have lunch later on?” Tao asked and Kai nodded, “Yeah, the guys wanted to see who the special girl that made Luhan hyung approach to be friends with is.” She turned to glance on his right and noticed Sehun with a scowl on his face, looking at her. She purposely rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to the both of them.

“I don’t think your friend over there would want me to join.” She said, which made Tao and Kai look over to Sehun. “Oh, don’t mind him, he’s always like that. Beside, it’ll be good to have a girl over, we have been surrounded by too much guys for a long time.” Tao shook his head jokingly while Jihyun laughed.

“Nah, I’ll pass this time, don’t want to put you guys in an awkward spot. Maybe when I actually start to get along with that guy over there, I might consider.” Jihyun winked and focused on the lesson.

The two turned to look at each other and smirked before shaking their heads and turning back to the front. “You thinking what I’m thinking?” Tao whispered and Kai nodded. 

“Most girls would jump at any chance to have lunch with us, but she rejected us! She rejected the invitations of the hottest guys in SM College!” Tao exclaimed, a little too loud.

“Huang Zitao, you have something to say?” The teacher pointed him out and Tao ducked his head down. “Sorry.” He murmured before the teacher went back to teaching.

“Luhan hyung was right.” Kai whispered back, afraid that the teacher would hear what they say.

--

After school, Jihyun and Hyorin decided to start looking for jobs since they didn’t want to depend on their families for allowance. Their parents could afford to give them allowance any time, but they wanted to start being independent and earn their own keep, thus, they decided to get a job.

They were strolling along Myeongdong and had asked almost every store possible whether there was a job opening, and even though some had expressed their interest, they were eventually rejected because they lacked experience.

Having walked around for hours, they settled down at a nearby bubble tea store to quench their thirst before attempting to search for more. That was when Hyorin spotted a sign.

“Jihyun, look!” Hyorin exclaimed as she pointed to the ‘Help Wanted’ sign. “It says we do not need any experiences and we can start immediately!” Hyorin said excitedly and Jihyun turned to look at the sign as well, confirming her words.

“What are we waiting for? Let’s ask the staff here!” Jihyun pulled Hyorin to the counter and approached the staff.

“Hi, I would like to look for the person-in-charge? I saw your sign outside and I’m really interested in applying for a job here.” Jihyun put on her best smile to the cashier staff.

“I’ll get my boss.” He replied and hurriedly went into the staff room to call her out.

Jihyun and Hyorin settled down at one of the seats and waited for the boss to be out, and once she was out, they immediately bowed.

“You’re looking for jobs?” The boss seemed like she was in her late 50s, and she had a friendly and heartwarming smile that made both of them feel at ease.

“Yes, we are.” Hyorin smiled. “What’s your names?” She asked and the two introduced themselves. “My pay may not be high but you guys are students, right? The schedule here’s pretty flexible and you guys can work together.” She said caringly and the two smiled.

“Thank you so much, Sajangnim!” The two chorused and the boss smiled. “Just call me Mrs. Kim.”

They didn’t really care about how much the pay was, they actually had savings as well, and they were just glad to be able to get a job since they just needed some living expenses.

“You can start tomorrow, but if you want to, you can start learning how to mix some of the recipes today.” She said and they both nodded.

They spent the rest of the afternoon learning the bubble tea recipes from the cashier staff, whom they had grown to become friends with. There weren’t many people since the crowd was gone, and they were thankful for that because that meant they could learn without having interruptions. His name was Youngmin, and he was just one year older than them, and he went to a college nearby the store.

 

“Thanks for your help, Youngmin-ssi!" The two chorused while Youngmin chuckled and ruffled their hairs. “Call me Youngmin oppa, and no problem, I now have a reason to look forward to work with two pretty girls working with me, it gets a little boring sometimes, you know.” He winked and they all laughed.

“See you tomorrow!”

They headed back to their dorms and rested for the night. It was going to be a long day tomorrow. 

Author's Note: Here's another update! Hope you guys like it! You might be confused as to what Sehun and Luhan were reffering to, but I'll reveal more in the upcoming chapters so stay tuned! :)