Momo was surprised to wake up in the new room. The surrounding was quite new to her and she did not remember falling asleep in it the previous night.
There was a knock on her door.
'Momo, get ready. Hyung is preparing breakfast. Let's eat together,' Chaeyoung said.
The three of them sat at the dinning table.
'Thank you for the food,' Chaeyoung and Momo said.
'Looks like it will be me cooking everyday since the two of you can't. You guys better do the dishes and cleaning,' Jeongyeon said.
'Okay, we can do that together, right Momo?' Chaeyoung said. Momo nodded while still chewing her food.
'Can't you stop calling her by her name? She's older than you,' Jeongyeon said.
'I don't like using honorifics or titles with pretty women,' Chaeyoung said.
'Yah! You're staying under the same roof as her. Be respectful to her at least.' Jeongyeon's voice was irritated and he glared at Chaeyoung.
'Okay. She is my Momo noona,' said Chaeyoung, emphasizing the word "noona".
'Didn't you say you will fix the shower?' Jeongyeon.
'Yeah, I'll do that after I finish eating.'
'You also fixed the drawers and AC. Did you study carpentry and HVAC, Chaeyoung?'
'No, Momo noona. I've a degree in BCA. Because I grew up poor we had lots of old furniture or other things. We didn't have money to always replace them with new ones so I fixed them. Poverty taught me these skills, I learned to use tools very young, Momo noona,' he said emphasizing each "noona" to taunt Jeongyeon. Momo just giggled at his idiotic action.
'Tomorrow is Monday. We have to report in Callbox's office. Do you wanna go shopping today with me, noona?'
Jeongyeon rolled his eyes. Momo nodded while stifling a laugh.
*
'Momo, can you tie a necktie?' Chaeyoung asked in the morning. It was Monday, first day at work. He had bought a tie but didn't know how to tie.
'Momo? No noona?' she laughed. 'No, I don't know how to.'
'Grumpy Jeongyeon isn't here to nag,' Chaeyoung said.
'I heard you,' Jeongyeon walked in.
'Hahaha I was just kidding, hyung' Chaeyoung faked a laugh and threw the necktie on the couch.
'Aren't you gonna wear that?' Jeongyeon asked pointing at the tie.
'I wanted to. I can't tie. Might find someone who can and wear it later.'
'Stand still,' Jeongyeon picked up the necktie and threw it around Chaeyoung's neck and tied it. The latter just stood awkwardly.
'Thanks,' he said. Jeongyeon nodded at him.
The three housemates were ready to leave for war. Chaeyoung dragged out his motorcycle and sat on it putting on the helmet.
'Can I get a ride?' Jeongyeon said.
'Chaeyoung, can I go with you?' Momo said.
'I asked first,' Jeongyeon said.
'I'm the lady here,' she argued.
Chaeyoung sighed, 'You know what, you two should ride together,' and he drove away taking none of them.
'Shall we?' Jeongyeon said.
'Sure.'
They rode in a bus. They sat side by side.
'You smell nice,' Jeongyeon said.
'Thanks you. It's a new perfume I bought yesterday,' Momo said. He nodded.
'You said you will give me your number if we meet again,' she said.
'Give me your phone.'
She unlocked her phone and handed it to him. He typed his number and handed it back to her.
'Thanks,' she said and gave him a missed call, 'that's mine.'
He saved it and the rest of the ride continued in silence.
*
'There he is,' Momo said pointing at Chaeyoung when they reach the office. He was chatting with a pretty girl.
'Hey, Chaeyoung,' they called out.
'Oh, hey noona, hey hyung, come here meet your colleague,' he said. The pretty girl looked at them with a polite smile.
'Sora, this is Momo and this is Jeongyeon,' he pointed them out to the pretty girl, 'and noono, hyung, meet Sora. We are in the same group, she's half Japanese.'
'Hello Sora,' Momo and Jeongyeon said.
'Hello, nice to meet you' Sora greeted with a smile.
'Report your arrival. Get your IDs. We will start training at 11. I will be here when you come out,' Chaeyoung said. The two of them went into the office and Chaeyoung continued to chat with Sora. He was always quick to make friends, especially with pretty girls.
'Ahh I can't believe I have do that the whole week. I need a drink,' Chaeyoung said as they finished their first day of training as voice agents.
'It's not bad. We will start taking trail calls tomorrow,' Jeongyeon said.
'You joining me for drinks?'
'No thanks, not on weekdays.'
'Momo noona you wanna join me?'
'I think I will pass,' she said.
'All right, have a safe trip home. I'm gonna go get wasted,' he said and sped off.
Chaeyoung was drinking alone. His eyes were scanning the place in search for girls he could play with. There was none he was interested in.
'A bar hadn't been this boring before. There's no pretty girl here or if there's one, they're with guys,' he muttered to himself and gulped more and more drinks till he was drunk.
A girl came in the bar and sat two seats away from Chaeyoung. He turned his head and glanced at her. She was beautiful.
He kept staring at her, studying her. She looked down, like she had a bad day. She sipped her drink in a melancholy manner, lost in thoughts. Then she sighed and finally seemed to have woke from her daydream. She took another sip of her drink and observed her surrounding. She caught Chaeyoung staring at her. The latter smiled at her but she shook it off, ignored him and focused on her drink.
Drunk Chaeyoung felt indignant by her action, so he decided he should trap her in his snare and kiss her. He moved closer to the seat next to hers.
'Hi,' he said.
'Hey,' she replied.
'The heart feels lighter if sorrows are shared. I'll listen to you,' he said. Even if he's drunk, he was smooth.
The girl smirked, 'How do you say I'm sad?'
'I saw it when our eyes met,' he said. The truth was, you can tell anyone is sad if you had been staring at that person for solid three minutes.
'Long story short. Just a breakup. There's this other girl, because of which we fought...'
'I knew it must have been his fault because when I see you I can't imagine you doing anything wrong.'
She smiled a bit and ordered another cocktail.
'That's one on me,' Chaeyoung said. She was about to protest, he sensed it, 'uh uh I insist.'
'Thank you, Mr....'
'Son Chaeyoung.'
'Nice to meet you, Son Chaeyoung. I'm Myoui Mina.'
'Everything happens for a reason, Mina,' Chaeyoung said, like a wise man - a drunk wise man.
'May be your break up means someone better will come your way? Don't be too serious. You see.... dating is like collecting information about the other person until you find something you don't like about that person.'
He looked at Mina to see her reaction. She wasn't reacting at all.
'But don't go and check his SNS afterwards. I once checked my ex's SNS. A bread crumb fell on my phone and I wanted to swipe it off the screen but I ended up liking the photos of her and her new boyfriend. You don't want that to happened that to you,' he said.
She smiled a bit at his silly story. The ice was broken, Mina had opened up a little and the conversation was going smoothly till Chaeyoung tried to kiss her. She put her palm on his chest and slightly pushed him stopping him from doing so.
'You make your move pretty quick,' she said. She told herself she would slap him if he tried that again. He didn't.
'You'll be amazed how quickly I move on if a girl push me away or if I lose interest in the girl. You should move on too. Love is a waste of time,' he said.
'Good luck moving on, Mina,' he patted her shoulder and tried to get up from his seat. He almost toppled over. Mina seized his arm and avoided him from falling.
'I can walk,' he said as he lifted his arms in the air and swerved away mumbling, 'I need to call Jeongyeon.'
That was typical Chaeyoung, the sweet talker. The girl either bit the bait or he would bail in no time.
To be continued...