Chapter Text
“I’m home!” Seven yelled out as he entered the apartment. He kicked off his shoes and breathed in deeply. The aroma of chicken wafted through the air, mixed with the scent of coffee. Home.
“Finally. You’re late, idiot,” Jaehee grumbled, not looking up from her book as Seven walked in. “What can I say, Mama Jaehee? They needed special agent 707 on the mission!” he replied cheerfully. She glared at him in response.
“Ahh,” Seven said as he inhaled. “What’s Chef Yoosung making for us today?”
“Well, as it happens, we already ate dinner, but we did save you some. I’m heating it up right now, actually,” Yoosung said from his post in the kitchen. He was humming and stirring something in the pot.
“Thanks! I’ll be right back. Then we can start the movie marathon.” Seven rubbed his hands together excitedly as he made his way to his bedroom. His bedroom was an average size, but messy, considering that he shared it with Yoosung. Both of them were slobs, according to Jaehee.
Seven shrugged his messenger bag off onto his bed, where it landed with a crunch. “Aha! So that’s where you’ve been!” He dug underneath the comforter and pulled out a half-empty bag of Honey Buddha Chips. Seven popped one in his mouth and headed to the bathroom.
~
Rain poured down on Seoul. Lightning flashed through the night sky, to be followed by rolls of thunder.
Only a little ways down the street from where the apartment complex was located, a woman with long brown hair emerged from a hospital, looking quite frazzled. She looked around wildly, as if searching for something. Or someone.
Her hair was sticking to her face, and her clothes were soaked.
She pulled a phone out and her face scrunched up in confusion. The woman looked up from her phone and scanned the streets. A sound came from an alley behind her. Whirling around, she saw a strange man with a face mask and white hair with pink tips emerging from the alley. Panicked, she ran to the nearest building she saw, assuming it was a hotel of some sort. However, it was an apartment complex. The apartment complex.
Things were about to get interesting. The man with white hair and pink tips smiled.
~
Jumin was leaving the complex to get popcorn when he saw a woman rush in. She was clearly in a hurry, her hair going in all different directions. She spun her head around, and saw Jumin. The woman ran over to him and grabbed him by the shoulders. He was thoroughly confused. No one had ever grabbed him by the shoulders, especially not a stranger. It was slightly humorous though, since the woman was about five feet tall, while he was towering over her at six feet.
Taken aback, he did not say anything, but the strange woman was trying to catch her breath. Jumin waited, and she was finally able to spit out a sentence. “Someone… is after… me. I need… a place to… stay… for a bit. Please.”
Jumin, still bewildered, agreed, not knowing what was happening. After all, she could be dangerous. But just the sight of her made him feel pity. She was a mess. Albeit a pretty mess, but still. He beckoned her towards the elevator, and soon enough they were in front of the apartment that he, Seven, Yoosung, Zen, and Jaehee shared.
Unlocking the door, she followed him into the apartment. “Jumin! You’re back!” Zen’s face appeared around the corner. When he saw the woman beside Jumin, his face scrunched up in confusion. “Who’s that?” he said, pointing to the girl.
“She’s… um--” Jumin was interrupted by a female voice. “Okay! Now that Jumin’s here, we can start!” Jaehee entered the already cramped hallway, and looked at the female in puzzlement and wide eyes.
“Babe, I think movie night’s going to have to wait,” Zen said to Jaehee.
“Yeah. Jumin, what’s her name? And she needs a change of clothes, right now, or she’s going to get hypothermia or something.” Jaehee took the woman by the arm, all business, and she went without any resistance. Jaehee didn’t even wait for a response from Jumin.
“So, what’s her name?” Zen asked, turning back to Jumin.
“I… um…” Jumin realized that he never even asked the name of the woman. “I don’t know, actually,” he said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.
“Oh, my god. Are you kidding me? Actually, I’m not even surprised. Mega-Jerk Jumin doesn’t even ask a pretty girl’s name.”
“Okay, calm down. Now can I actually enter my home, please? I’m freezing,” Jumin said irritably.
Zen gestured grandly, as if to say, Please, come on in. “Jerk,” he muttered under his breath as Jumin passed by.
“I heard that,” Jumin called from inside the kitchen.
Zen gave a tiny smile. As long as he and Jumin were fighting, everything was okay in his world.
~
Jaehee ran to her closet and picked out the most comfortable clothes she could find. A brown cable-knit sweater, a pair of black leggings, a bra (judging by the look of her chest, the woman and Jaehee had about the same cup size), and a pair of underwear from an unopened pack.
“Go in there and change,” Jaehee said as she shooed the woman into the bathroom goodnaturedly. She gave a tiny smile to Jaehee and went in.
Wait. What’s her name? Eh, I’ll ask her when she comes out.
Jaehee hurried to the kitchen where Jumin was taking leftover chicken soup from the microwave. “I found this in the fridge--” Jumin was interrupted yet again by Jaehee as she snatched the bowl from him and began rummaging through the utensil drawer. “Hey! You already ate, didn’t you?” Jumin protested.
“It’s not for me. It’s for that tiny girl you brought in. Poor thing looks like she’s frozen.”
“Okay, okay. I’ll just starve, thanks. And to answer your question, I don’t know her name.” Jumin began going through the fridge in order to find something edible. “She just kind of ran into me in the lobby and asked me for a place to stay. I didn’t even think about asking her name. Aha! This looks good.” Jumin held up a sandwich covered in foil. Turning around, Jaehee eyed the sandwich and raised one eyebrow.
“Just so you know, Seven made that.”
“Never mind.” Jumin placed the sandwich back in the fridge in disgust and left for his room.
Jaehee rushed back to her room, soup in hand, as the girl emerged from the bathroom and sat down on the bed. “Everything fits?” Jaehee inquired with a warm smile. For the first time, the girl spoke. Her voice was soft, and Jaehee could barely hear the words coming out of her mouth. “Yes. Thanks.”
“Good! Now, what’s your name?” Jaehee asked, handing the bowl of soup to the woman.
~
Yoosung was having a crappy day, to say the least. He bungled up too many orders at the coffee place today, and he accidentally spilled coffee on that really, really cute girl who came to the cafe everyday. If anyone but Jaehee were his boss, he would’ve been fired by now.
On top of that, LOLOL was on server maintenance. Yoosung groaned and hit his head on his desk repeatedly.
“Hey.” Jumin poked his head into Yoosung’s room. He lifted his head up. “Oh, hey,” Yoosung responded.
“By the way, movie night is cancelled. An issue came up. I don’t really know how to explain it, but you should go see Jaehee. And umm…” Jumin scanned the room. “Where’s Seven? Isn’t he back by now?”
As if on cue, Seven walked into the room, holding a can of Dr. Pepper and a plate of chicken. “Speak of the devil,” Jumin said, rolling his eyes.
“Heya!” Seven slurped his soda loudly. He placed his food on his desk and took a seat. “Lemme guess. You want to play LOLOL, but it's on server maintenance. You also have an exam tomorrow, and you haven’t even touched your textbook.”
Yoosung nodded glumly and put his head back down on the desk. “I think you guys should really head over to Jaehee’s room if you want to see the new person,” Jumin interjected, turning to leave the room.
Seven and Yoosung whirled around to face where Jumin was standing. “New person?! What do you mean?”
No answer.
Seven and Yoosung shrugged and headed out.
~
Zen sat at the breakfast bar and popped his earbuds in his ear. The sound of sweet, classical music filled his ears, and he couldn’t hear Jaehee and the strange woman enter the living room.
He felt a tap on his shoulder, and Zen turned around to find his girlfriend glaring at him. He ripped his earbuds out as Jaehee began to speak, “Did you literally not hear me the last five times? I just…” Jaehee began gesturing wildly with her hands as Seven and Yoosung walked into the kitchen.
“Good, I needed to talk to you guys too. Also, get Jumin, will you?” Her attention flicked to Yoosung and Seven, and the former went to go get Jumin.
“Okay, I need to talk to everyone.”