-A/N-
Sorry this chapter was a bit late. For some reason, I was having trouble writing it, so it's a bit of a mess!
Also, if you have any ideas for a title, let me know!!
Enjoy!! 😊
****WARNING: Slight use of language in this chapter, and possible similar use throughout the rest of the fic****
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She just wanted her bed to swallow her whole, so she'd never have to leave it. (Which was probably part of the reason behind her oversleeping and missing an exam she was supposed to take that morning).
Or maybe, she should leave it briefly, just to break her roommate's speaker over her head.
"Da-Eun, seriously! You've played the same song, like, ten times in a row now!" She yelled over the music. "It's not a crime to play a new one!"
"Yes, it is!" Da-Eun yelled back from their dorm bathroom. "BTS songs deserve to be played on repeat until the end of time, and you will not catch me skipping a single song containing the angelic voice of the lovely Park Jimin. Besides, you know you love it!"
"Yes, lot's of their music is great, but NOT WHEN IT'S ONE SONG BEING PLAYED FOR THE HUNDREDTH TIME IN A ROW!!!"
Da-Eun ignored her protests, proceeding to turn the music up instead, as the song progressed into its next loop.
"God, I swear, one of these days I'll end up committing a murder," she muttered, swinging her legs off the edge of the bed and wincing a bit as her sore shoulder twinged in protest.
She'd woken up one morning a few weeks ago to a serious ache in her left shoulder.
It had been bothering her ever since, with no obvious cause.
She hadn't gone to see a doctor, despite Da-Eun's insistence, because she was fairly certain she'd end up paying a huge amount of money just to hear "nothing's wrong with you, you probably just slept on it wrong," which she wasn't willing to do.
So she'd just beared with it since.
She shuffled to the mini-fridge in their dorm, hoping to find something to snack on, but to her dismay it was empty, save for a few bottles of flavored water.
"I'm going to the store!" she shouted in the direction of the bathroom. "Da-Eun, do you want anything?"
"Yeah, I'll come with you! Just gimme a sec, I'm almost done!"
Rrrring! Rrrring! Rrrring!
She pulled her phone out of her jacket pocket, which was hanging up on the back of the door, smiling once she saw the name lighting up the screen.
"Hello?" She asked, despite already knowing who it was.
"Hello? You ignore me for more than a week and all I get is a 'hello?'" the voice on the other end of the line whined. "What kind of a sister are you?"
"Obviously, the best kind," she answered sweetly. Her tone changed to a more serious one as she asked, "What time is it over there?"
Silence on the other end.
She frowned down at her watch. "It's almost 2:30 in the afternoon here. So it's like, what? 3:30-ish there?"
"Yeah, -ish."
"Hey, Lee Do-Hyeon! Why the hell are you still awake at 3:30 in the morning?! You better not still be working!"
"I'm not... right now I'm sitting on the couch," Do-Hyeon protested meekly.
"Okay, sure. Where's the couch, though?" She pushed, although she was sure she already knew the answer.
There was a pause, before: "In the studio."
The confession was followed by a long sigh on her end.
"Do-Hyeon, you need to sleep," she said, breathing out through her nose to keep herself from yelling. "Your work will still be there in the morning, and you'll probably work better when you're running on more than two or three hours of sleep."
An indignant snort sounded from her phone's speaker.
"I'm the older one here, you know. I should be telling you these things," he joked, but she could hear the tiredness creeping into his voice.
"You can tell me them tomorrow, when-"
"Oh, shoot, I almost forgot why I actually called you," Do-Hyeon cut her off.
"Why'd you call, then?" she asked, an amused smile on her face.
"When you come to Seoul, can you please bring some of those donuts from Sweet Maggie's? That one bakery near your University. I swear I'll die if I can never taste another one of the maple donuts again."
What? "Your brain's gotta be a lot more sleep-deprived than I thought if you're calling me from the studio at three in morning just to ask for some donuts. And I'm pretty sure that, even if I did try to bring you donuts, they'd get confiscated at customs."
She was momentarily distracted by the opening of the bathroom door.
Da-Eun had apparently finally turned her music off at some point in their conversation, and was now ready to go as she had moved to put her shoes on.
"I need to go now, Do-Hyeon. Da-Eun and I are going grocery shopping," she said, copying Da-Eun and putting her own sneakers on. "And you need to get some sleep. Maybe Maggie's maple donuts will visit you in your dreams, because unless you fly out here, that's the only way you're getting them."
"I hate you," came the grumbling reply. But there was no bite in his tone, and the three words he said were the opposite of those he meant.
She grinned into the phone. "I hate you, too. Now get some sleep! Good night, Do-Hyeon."
"Mmmhmm... Night," he replied.
The loser's already falling asleep, she thought, still smiling.
She pressed the END CALL button, shoving her phone back into her jacket pocket, before actually putting the jacket on, and being careful not to jostle her shoulder too much as she did so.
"Was that your brother?" Da-Eun asked, opening the door.
"Yeah, it was. He was calling about donuts."
"Isn't it, like, four in the morning there now, though?" Her roommate's expression morphed into one of incredulity. "Why the hell is he calling to ask about donuts at four in the morning?"
"I know right? That's what I said," she laughed, thinking about her brother's tired voice as he made his request for maple donuts. "We'll have to stop at Sweet Maggie's on the way back from the store. We can eat the donuts for him and pretend that he's there with us in spirit."
~~*~~
"Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, girl! Get your ass up out of bed! We're supposed to be meeting the others in, like, ten minutes, and you're not even awake!"
If I wasn't awake, then I am now, she thought, groaning and pulling her blanket over her head.
"Five more minutes.." she mumbled.
"Five minutes, my ass!" Da-Eun shouted, yanking her blanket back down. "Next it'll be ten, then twenty, and the next thing you know, it's tomorrow already."
"Ughhhhh...." she groaned, rolling over and pressing her face into her pillow, willing herself to go back to sleep.
But Da-Eun was on a warpath.
"I've lived with you for four years now, girlie. I know you aren't getting out of bed until the last minute, until you absolutely need to.
"Which is now, actually. So get your lazy ass out of bed, get dressed, and let's go!"
She let out a puff of air, instantly regretting it as the pillow barrier pushed her morning breath straight back into her face.
"What time is it?" she groaned, rolling over and squinting as her eyes adjusted to the daylight.
She tried to massage her sore shoulder, but it was a bit difficult to do from a lying-down position, and it required more energy than she possessed at the current moment.
"It's 10:48, hon, so hurry the hell up. We're supposed to be meeting the others at eleven." Da-Eun replied, glancing down at her watch.
She was wearing a white tee with pink slacks, which were cropped relatively high above the ankles to showcase the monstrously high heels she was wearing.
Her makeup was on fleek, her dyed-brown hair curled to perfection, not a strand out of place.
She was immaculate, gorgeous, a powerhouse of style without even trying.
In other words, she was simply Da-Eun.
Her roommate's ability to look good in almost anything was something she'd always envied. Da-Eun could show up to a red carpet event in a potato sack, and still slay completely.
Whereas she.... well, she looked pretty on a good day.
She didn't have many good days.
"Girl, I'm serious. If you don't get up in the next 0.5 seconds, I'll call Mrs. Lee and get her to fly all the way out here just to drag your ass out of bed."
Oh, good god, please don't. "Okay, I'm up. I'm up. Don't call my mom."
She rolled out of bed and sprinted to the bathroom so fast, she could give Usain Bolt a run for his money, Da-Eun's laughter following behind her.
~~*~~
"Can't we just get a taxi or something?" she whined, stopping to rub her heels where the beginnings of blisters were forming.
The shoes she was wearing were relatively new, and this was only the second time she had worn them.
"Girl, you and I both know that we don't have enough money to use some on a taxi." Da-Eun replied.
Okay, fair.
They were walking to Josie's, a popular restaurant famous for it's god-tier pizza, and the go-to meeting place for them and their friends.
"Ah, god, I'm so hungry," she grumbled, and her stomach rumbled back in agreement.
"If you woke up earlier, you could have had breakfast, you know. But instead, you decided to sleep in until ten minutes before we were supposed to be there."
"I'd rather starve to death than miss out on sleep, Da-Eun. You know that."
Da-Eun sighed, annoyed and slightly amused.
"I do. I do know that, but-"
Her attention was briefly caught by a particularly shiny penny.
She bent down to grab it with her good arm, hoping the 'and all day you'll have good luck' part of the phrase would somehow turn out to be true.
She brushed it off, attempting to get rid of any sidewalk dirt that had been on it, before sticking it into her pocket.
I really need to clean these pockets out, she thought. There is so much stuff in here.
Receipts, spare change, a stick of gum, extra hair ties.
Basically everything she could fit in them that would normally belong in a purse.
"- and I can't believe you forgot. We always meet at Josie's on Fridays." Da-Eun's tone was full of exasperation, hints of worry hidden underneath. "What's going on with you, girlie?"
She shrugged, but the words 'Nothing's going on' died on her lips as she remembered who she was talking to.
"I dunno," she said, as casually as she could. "I've just been in funk recently. I don't know why, though. Nothing's happened to make me feel like this, I just kinda do."
Da-Eun was silent for a while, and once she had worked up the courage to look her roommate in the face, she saw her eyes were filled with concern.
"When was the last time you talked to Ms. Cady?" Da-Eun asked. Her tone was mostly still worried, but it now contained a hint of disapproval. "Maybe you could go see her tomorrow. Is her office open on Saturdays?"
She took a deep breath in, feeling frustration rising in the back of her throat. "I don't need to talk to a therapist, Da-Eun. I'm fine. It's probably just the stress of finals season and getting ready to leave. I'm all good, I promise."
Da-Eun looked at her doubtfully. "Are you sure? I don't really wanna push, but if-"
"Oh, look, we're here."
"Don't change the subject, hon," Da-Eun said, warning in her voice.
"I'm not, though," she protested, although she was glad that their conversation would be cut short. "We're actually here. Look. Esther, Kyle, and Ji-Hoon are already inside. And it looks like Caleb's there, too."
Da-Eun followed her line of sight until her eyes landed on a group of people sitting at a table near the window, laughing and eat—
"Are those assholes starting without us?!!"
Previous conversation temporarily forgotten, Da-Eun stormed into the pizza parlor, heels clacking dangerously.
She sighed, before hurrying in after her roommate.
"What the hell, Kyle?! Why are you eating without us?? Polly's not here yet, either, and you just started anyway? Not cool, dude," Da-Eun scolded, but she was already sitting down and reaching for a slice of pizza.
She followed suit, sitting across from Da-Eun.
Kyle shrugged, unaffected.
"You guys were late, and we were hungry," he said simply, like it explained everything. Which it did.
Kyle was a big, blond, beefy dude, attending Uni on a football scholarship. He was loud and energetic, and those in the friend group constantly compared him to a golden retriever.
Which was a stark contrast to the pale, skinny redhead sitting next to him.
Caleb was Kyle's boyfriend, and his opposite in many ways.
Where Kyle was loud and outgoing, Caleb was quiet and fairly shy. Kyle was mainly the brawn of the relationship, and Caleb had all the brains.
But despite being polar opposites, they meshed well, and had been together since highschool.
"Polly texted and said she'd be late," Esther said.
Esther was similar to Da-Eun in the way that she rocked everything she wore, although the two women's clothing styles were very different.
While Da-Eun's was usually sharp and sleek, almost every outfit accompanied by a pair of heels, Ether's was softer, with lots of pastels, floral patterns, and loose fabrics.
In a way, their styles matched their personalities.
"At least Polly said she'd be late, Da-Eun," Kyle said, pointing his slice of pizza at her. "Unlike you."
"I did text you!"
"Yeah, sure. After you were already late."
"You know what, Kyle, no one-"
She sighed, turning to Esther and attempting to ignore Kyle and Da-Eun's banter.
"Why's Polly going to be late?" she asked. "Did she say?"
"Mmmm," the brunette said, around a mouth of pizza. She finished chewing before she gave her reply. "Yeah, she had something going on with Driss, I think. I can't remember what, exactly, but she said she'd come after they finished."
"She could just bring Driss, if she wanted. We all like her."
"Yeah, but I think Driss has something with her parents later, too."
"Oh, bummer!" Da-Eun said, upon hearing Esther's reply. "I loved Driss, she was great. I was looking forward to seeing her again before we left."
Driss was Polly's soulmate and girlfriend of two-years, and a fellow fashionista, which was why she and Da-Eun got along so well despite having only met a few times.
Polly and Da-Eun were the only members of their friend group who had found their soulmates, but Da-Eun's... well, it hadn't exactly gone well.
"Oh yeah, I forgot," Kyle groaned, dramatically slapping his hand against his forehead.
He hit too hard, if his wince was anything to go by.
Caleb chuckled at his boyfriend's antics, grabbing Kyle's hand before he could do any more damage to himself.
"When are you guys leaving again?" Kyle asked. "Two months, right?"
"Yeah," she replied. "On the 7th, at like, five in the morning."
"Oof, rough time. I'm sad to say that I will not be seeing you guys off at the airport, then." Kyle said, grimacing at the idea of getting up at 5 am.
"Did you already find an apartment?" Ji-Hoon asked, speaking for the first time since she and Da-Eun had arrived. "It's pretty tough to find one in the city."
"My aunt knows some people," Da-Eun replied, sending him a wink.
He grinned back at her. "Ah, yes. The infamous Ms. Choi. I should've guessed."
He shook his head, his black hair swinging with the movement.
Ji-Hoon was one of those very rare people who were both insanely attractive and easy to get along with.
He was kind, funny, smart, and handsome as hell.
One of the many mysteries of their friend group was why he was still single.
"Are you guys staying together, then?" Caleb asked, gesturing between her and Da-Eun.
"Yes," she replied. "Both mine and Da-Eun's parents live pretty far from the city, so living with them isn't really an option. My brother lives in Seoul— actually, he works at the same company Da-Eun will be working at— but his apartment is barely big enough for him, let alone another two people."
"Oh, that's cool," Caleb remarked, focused more now on the conversation and less on Kyle's hand. "What does your brother do?"
"Oh, uh, he's a music producer. He's pretty good at it, too, actually."
Ji-Hoon laughed. "Why do you sound almost surprised?"
"Because he never really showed any interest in producing until after he graduated college," she replied. "I mean, he liked music, and played the piano, but he was never particularly talented or super interested until he met his now ex-girlfriend. Then he started to get more into the music scene until he somehow ended up with an internship. Apparently, they thought he was good, and they hired him full-time."
"Okay, yeah, actually, that is kind of surprising," Ji-Hoon said, perfect eyebrows raised to show his surprise. "Why'd meeting his ex get him into music?"
"Oh, god," she said, letting out a small laugh that sounded more like a snort. "Now that's an interesting story."
"Ooh do tell," Kyle grinned, leaning towards her and wiggling his eyebrows.
"Yes, do," Da-Eun chimed in, laughter in her voice. "I've heard it a few times now, and I swear it gets funnier each time."
"Okay. Well, it all started in his freshman year of college," she began, making sure to sew plenty of drama into her tone. "It was orientation day, and his...
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~~~A/N
Hi there! Thanks for reading!
This chapter was mainly a filler chapter, just to introduce Da-Eun and Do-Hyeon, and to get to know the main character and her friends a bit better.
Even though nothing much happened, it took a long time to write and is a bit of a mess, still. So feel free to leave some constructive criticism for me!!
And what's going on with her shoulder? You'll have to see in the next few chapters!!
I'm hoping to at least have Chapter 5 out by next week, but life happens, so we'll see!
Leave me some chapter title ideas in the comments!!! ⭐️
Thanks again! Don't forget to vote if you like it! I really appreciate it!!☺️
~cinnamontoasted