While you head home from your night class, an unexpected excitement fills you as you think about seeing Sunwoo. Ever since the two of you hung out that night, you've noticed Sunwoo trying to be more engaging with you. His attempts at building a friendship have made you realize that him becoming your roommate might not be so bad. It might bring you some new energy that you haven't realized you've been craving until now.
It surprises you that you can see yourself developing a friendship with him, and maybe makes you feel a bit shameful. Admittedly, you haven't really made an effort to be friends with Kevin and Eric's friend group, and maybe you should change that. You could be holding yourself back from a lot of great friendships.
With a growing smile on your face, you begin to make the trek up the sidewalk to your apartment. Thoughts of maybe starting that show you've been talking about with Sunwoo fill your head as you wonder if he's home. While you come to a stop in front of your apartment door to grab your keys, you try to figure out why you're excited to hang out with him and when this odd flip occurred.
Sliding the key into the lock, you twist the handle and push open the door. Your eyes scan the living room, and when they come to a stop on the couch, your excitement immediately dissipates. There, sitting on the cushy, black furniture with some random girl straddling his lap, is Sunwoo. The pair is in such a heated and deep makeout session, they don't even notice your presence.
Ripping your eyes away from them, you shut the apartment door. The couple jumps apart at the sound and looks over at you, but you can barely glance in their direction. The image of her hands buried in his hair and his hands grinding her body against him refuses to leave your head.
Somehow, in the last couple of weeks, you've forgotten Sunwoo's reputation. You've allowed yourself to forget that, in his heart, he's a fuckboy.
"Hey," Sunwoo says, slightly pushing the girl off his lap like they weren't just about to have sex on your couch. "Welcome home!"
With a slight nod, you say, "Sorry for ruining your fun."
"You didn't ruin anything," he tells you, flashing a small smile your way. His black curls lay messily against his forehead, and you want to smack him for being attractive at a time like this. "How was your class?"
Your eyes land on the girl pouting next to him. The messy hair that frames her face and her swollen red lips tell you they've been at it for a while, and when she catches your stare, she sends you a nasty look. With a small scoff at her behavior, you focus back on Sunwoo and, with a dull tone, say, "Same stuff, different day."
Sunwoo lightly nibbles on his bottom lip as he notices your tone - likely feeling awkward about the situation - but then the girl next to him wraps her hands around his arm to get his attention back on her.
"Sunwoo," she whines in a cutesy voice. "Let's go to your room for some privacy."
She shoots you a look as she says the last words, and you roll your eyes. You couldn't care less that she doesn't like you here. It's your freaking apartment.
Sunwoo looks over at her, and when you see her bite her lip and give him her best sultry eyes, you decide that's enough for you. You kick your shoes off by the door and begin to head to your room. Sunwoo looks like he wants to say something, but his girl is done with not getting his attention.
With a glance behind you, you see her get up to her feet and pull Sunwoo up from the couch. His eyes fall down to her as he stands up and a slow smile begins to grow on his face as she drags him towards his room. The awkwardness he felt about being caught is replaced by lust once again.
You hear the door shut behind them as you head into your room and follow suit. At least, you'll have two shut doors between you as they do whatever it is they're about to do. You swing your backpack towards the corner of your room and drop down onto your bed with a sigh. Okay. New plan. Tonight, we'll avoid doing homework by doing what we usually do - waste time on YouTube.
Putting on your pajamas and booting up your laptop, you get yourself settled amongst your cozy blankets and pillows for a quiet night when you hear it. The sounds that let you know your night is about to be anything but quiet.
Your eyes immediately go to the bedroom wall Sunwoo and you share. The wall you failed to take into account when you shut your bedroom door to block out the noise. Feminine moans reach your ears, and your entire body freezes for a moment.
When you do break out of your trance, you quickly open up YouTube and click on the first video you see. It doesn't even matter what it is. You just need a noise blocker immediately. Turning the volume up obnoxiously loud, it helps drown out the moans until the bed squeaks and the thumping of the bed hitting the wall greets your ears.
Jumping up from your bed, you race to your backpack and dig out your headphones. Pushing them near painfully deep in your ears, you go back to your laptop and jam them into the headphone jack, nearly deafening yourself in the process. The squeaks and moans get drowned out, but now that you're calming down, awkwardness seeps into your system.
You feel awkward that you're overhearing them have sex, and that leads you to feeling mad that they're making you feel awkward in your own damn apartment. This is exactly what you dreaded about Sunwoo living with you. The exact reason you didn't want the fuckboy around your space. Frustration slams into you as you realize you're stuck in your room with your headphones in for the rest of the night.
—-----------------------------------------------------
The next day, as you walk up to the café that you're having lunch with Sophia at, you're still grumbling to yourself about the events that unfolded last night. Your hands come up to rub your sore ears which just adds fuel to your griping. You couldn't believe you had to fall asleep with headphones in.
Sighing, you walk into the café and quickly spot Sophia in the front corner. She waves and smiles when she sees you, but the greeting slowly fades when she sees the annoyed look on your face. You sit down and try to wipe away your negativity. It's not Sophia's fault that you had to listen to Sunwoo have sex half the night. Well, it kind of is, but you're not going to take your frustration out on her.
"Is everything okay?" She cautiously asks.
You flash her a smile to play it off. "Yeah, I just didn't sleep well."
She slowly offers a nod, but it's obvious she doesn't believe you. Trying to get her to move on from the subject, you ask, "Have you ordered already?"
When she tells you she hasn't, you quickly get up and tell her you'll go order. Heading up to the counter, you put a smile on your face and order you both some sandwiches and drinks. You've gotta fake it until you make it, and by the time you have your order, you're feeling a little better about the day.
Placing your food on the table, you sit down and start to dig into your meal. "How're things going with Eric?"
"Great. How is it living with Sunwoo?"
The sandwich that’s halfway to your mouth stops, and you look up at Sophia. She watches you with a raised brow, and you mentally swear. Of course, there was no way Sophia wasn't going to pick up on the issue.
"Let it out," she coaxes when you stay quiet.
"I had to listen to that heathen have sex all night long," you burst out.
She makes an "ahh" sound as she realizes what your problem is.
"Do you know how awkward it is to listen to some random girl loudly moan right next to you?"
"As opposed to some girl that you do know?"
"Soph…" you whine. "That's not the point here!"
She laughs, probably getting some sick enjoyment from your pain. "I know. I know. You're right. That'd be super irritating."
You take a bite of your sandwich as you remember the sounds from last night. You try to shove them out of your mind, but it's like your brain doesn't want you to forget them.
"God. It was so awkward," you finally say once you finish chewing your food.
"Well, besides last night, how has everything else been going?"
You take another bite as you mull over her question. Last night was really your only complaint, and it's not like Sunwoo broke the rules. He didn't have sex where you could see it. He just happened to have sex with a loud-ass girl.
"Surprisingly well," you answer. "He's not as bad as I thought he would be. We actually have a few things in common."
Sophia's quiet for a moment before she says, "Duh."
You look at her in surprise. "Duh?"
"There's more to him than just being a fuckboy. You just haven't bothered to find out."
Guilt creeps through you because you know she's right. Sunwoo's not what you expected him to be, and the more you get to know him, the more you realize you've unfairly judged him.
Those thoughts stick with you the entire day, and by the time you get home, you almost feel like you should apologize. It doesn't help that nearly the second you get through the door, Sunwoo asks if you want to order in and start the show you both want to watch.
"Yeah, that sounds great."
"Good, I'm glad you say that," he gives you a sheepish smile, "because I already ordered the food."
You put your stuff down and look at him in surprise. "You what?"
"I assumed you'd say yes, so I already ordered the food." You open your mouth to say something, but he continues before you have the chance. "Before you get upset. I ordered stuff I know you'd like."
Raising an eyebrow, you ask, "And how do you know what I like?"
A twinkle shines in his dark eyes at the double entendre in your words, and you raise an arm and pretend to smack him, causing him to laugh and throw up his hands.
"We've been living together for a couple of weeks. You don't think I notice what you eat or have stocked in the kitchen?"
No. It never crossed your mind that he'd pay attention to the things you do, let alone the things you eat.
"Let me go change into something comfortable, and then we can watch."
Sunwoo fights a smile from growing on his face, and it's almost like you can see him biting his tongue to stop himself from making a crude comment. You shake your head, realizing that the more comfortable the two of you get with each other, the more he's going to stop holding himself back from being the playful mischievous guy he is, and a part of you is scared you're going to enjoy it.
While you're changing into a pair of sweats, you hear the doorbell ring. Assuming it's the food, you quickly get dressed and head back into the living room. When you see the familiar white takeout bags Sunwoo carries into the kitchen, you follow him. You eye the bags as he sets them on the counter before you look up at his face.
"How did you know that's my favorite restaurant?"
You see an impressed expression grace his face. "I didn't know it was your favorite. I just knew you liked it because I've seen the containers in the refrigerator before."
Brushing away his odd stroke of luck, you move over to stand beside him and examine the food he ordered as he takes everything out of the bags. A part of you is impressed that he ordered a few of your favorite dishes. That feeling dwindles, though, as you see what else he bought.
"You actually like that?" You ask, pointing towards a dish you steer clear from.
He looks at you incredulously. "You don't?"
"Absolutely not." The disgust seeps into your voice even though you don't mean for it to. "It looks gross."
"It looks gross? Are you telling me you've never actually tried it?"
"There's absolutely nothing in me that wants to eat that."
You begin piling the food you want on a plate while Sunwoo stands motionlessly next to you. You ignore his apparent shock and head out to the living room to get the show ready to play. It takes a couple of minutes before Sunwoo joins you, and when he finally does, you lean over to start the show.
"Wait."
Pausing your actions, you look over at him curiously.
"Before we start, I want you to try this."
When he motions to the disgusting food sitting on his plate, you grimace. "No, thanks."
"Try it, or I'm not watching the show with you," he stubbornly states.
You shrug your shoulders and reach for the remote. "Okay."
His movements are quick as he snatches up the device before you can get to it. You look over at him in annoyance.
"Why would I want to eat something that's not even remotely appetizing?"
"Please, just try it." He picks some of it up with his utensil and brings it up to your mouth, causing you to lean away.
"Sunwoo, no."
He ignores you and pushes it closer to your mouth. "I'm not going to stop until you try some, so you might as well just give in."
The determination in his eyes lets you know that he's being completely serious. You take a deep breath and wonder if it's even worth fighting a battle over. You're coming to learn that Sunwoo is very pigheaded when he wants to be.
"Fine," you grumble, noting the happy look on his face.
"Open up." He brings the utensil to your mouth, intending to feed it to you.
"I don't nee-"
He shoves the food in your mouth, cutting you off and forcing you to taste it. It takes a moment for you to chew it, and as soon as you do, the flavors burst into your mouth. Admittedly, it's not as bad as you expected it to be, but you refuse to let Sunwoo know that.
"Well?" He eagerly asks.
Swallowing the bite, you reluctantly mumble, "It's not bad."
He leans toward you and smiles. "What was that?"
You know he heard your words. He just wants you to say it again. "I said it's not absolutely disgusting."
Sunwoo leans back with a satisfied smirk. "You liked it."
"Are you done? Can we watch the show now?" You lean toward him and reach for the remote without waiting for his answer. He chuckles and watches as you move over him to grab it, not bothering to help you a single bit..
The two of you watch a few episodes of the show, but before you can finish the third episode, the doorbell rings. You exchange a glance, and it's obvious neither of you is expecting anyone based off the raised brows and curious looks. With a sigh, you get up from the couch and walk over to the door. The only mistake you make is not looking through the peephole before opening it.
There, standing outside of your apartment door is Minjee.
She looks at you in surprise before confusion takes over her features.
"Can I help you?"
The confusion on her face turns to disgust as she looks you up and down. Her brown eyes rake over your body as her perfectly shaped brows scrunch together. In the most snotty tone you think she can manage, she asks, "What are you doing here?"
"I live here," you dully answer her, not bothering to reach her level.
"I must have the wrong place then because there's no way Sunwoo would be here with you."
At that moment, Sunwoo walks up behind you. You notice the surprise on her face at his appearance, but it's pushed to the back of your mind as you realize how close Sunwoo is to you. He's close enough that his breath slightly moves your hair as he greets her.
You bring your focus back to Minjee, and you can tell from her expression that she's not happy he's there with you. A smile wants to grow on your face because you dislike the girl, but you just don't care enough to show her your emotions.
"What's going on? Why are you with her?"
"Because I live with her," Sunwoo carelessly says, ignoring her bratty tone.
"But why, though?"
Instead of being in the middle of their conversation, you move but are immediately stopped by Sunwoo's hard chest. Surprise fills you as you feel his muscles against your back, and you try to keep the shock off of your face. Of course, Sunwoo has muscles. Why not just add them to the list of already attractive qualities he has.
Startled by your thoughts, you mumble an apology to him and step to the side. You can feel his gaze on you as you walk back to the couch, but soon, Minjee's voice fills the air.
Sunwoo moves to the side to silently invite her in as she talks, but once she takes one look at you on the couch, she stops. You look up at her, meeting her gaze, and you can see in her eyes that she doesn't want you there.
"Can you, like, go to your room or something?" She rudely asks.
Anger immediately spikes in you at the thought that she thinks she can talk to you like this in your own apartment. That she thinks she can treat you like a child and send you to your room so the "adults" can talk.
You open your mouth to say something - or more like cuss her out - but Sunwoo speaks before you can.
"This is her place. She doesn't have to go anywhere." He gives her an odd look before turning to you and softly saying, "We'll go to my room."