Work Text:
The exam was tomorrow. Sooyoung had tried her best this time. She had started studying two weeks prior, fighting every urge she had to procrastinate. She had made flashcards, went to study groups, and drank an unhealthy amount of coffee. Whatever happened, she couldn’t afford another fiasco like the one from last time.
Still, she couldn’t help but feel uneasy and, despite all efforts, still unprepared.
She tried to call her friend Haseul but the only voice on the other side of the line was that of a monotone woman telling her the obvious: her friend was unavailable.
Sooyoung had known her for a while now and she had learned that sometimes Haseul disappeared for an undetermined period of time. After a long sigh, Sooyoung sent a message asking how she was doing. She hoped this time it was not long until she got an answer.
With a heaviness on her shoulders, she opened her notes and spread them on the table one last time. She knew most of the content, even some of the most minuscule details. However, she failed to understand why things were the way they were. Even if she knew the correct answer, she couldn’t justify it and that was a huge headache.
She proceeded with the routine she has established for these last fourteen days, reading intensely, annotating, highlighter in hand, and repeating aloud some key items.
Some time into this process, her phone signaled a notification.
Seul: it’s going well? i think
Seul: Vivi is helping me study <3
She would normally respond with a needy text about how lonely and in need of a girlfriend she was but today she wasn’t even in the mood for that.
She was halfway through typing a question about something she was struggling with when she was distracted by some noises coming from the room next to hers.
The voices were muffled by the wall separating them but she could distinguish that there were at least six different people. The squeals came at random but, even if their voices did get louder than Sooyoung would have appreciated on some occasions, it was still not enough to bother her or distract her from the task at hand.
She then finished writing the text message and threw her phone in her bed so she wouldn’t pick it up and fidget with it every five minutes. She went back to her notes. Meanwhile, the thrashing around in the place next door continued.
The most striking noise was the sound of furniture being moved. Whatever it was, it sounded like they were preparing for something big, and that was what sent shivers down Sooyoung’s spine.
She hated college student dorms. She had had problems with her previous neighbor, a lanky dude who smelled like he didn’t know what deodorant was and who liked to organize parties every Saturday. To Sooyoung’s delight, he had moved away last semester. Since then, she knew someone had moved in next door but she had never heard or seen much of them.
She hoped it stayed this way.
She was halfway through her second set of flashcards when she felt the need to stop and pay attention to what was happening in the room on the opposite side of the wall. It was not voices or scraping furniture that she heard this time, it was quite the opposite. For the first time in an hour, it was nothing at all.
She was about to relax the accumulated tension on her shoulders. No more partying, then? The only sound in the room was that of her changing pages in her notebook.
Then it was not.
A sudden scream made her jump on her chair, hitting her knee on her desk and getting her toe stuck under one of the wheels of her rolling chair. Her scream was buried under the ones coming from the other side of the wall. Her rage was the only thing keeping her distracted from the pain.
Shortly after, the music started.
She tried everything: her noise-canceling headphones, the earplugs she bought after she discovered her ex-girlfriend snored, etc. But nothing was enough to allow her to focus back on her notes. She barely heard her phone ding with a new message from Haseul.
She picked up her phone from where it had landed. In the chat was a long message where Haseul responded to the question Sooyoung had asked long ago. However, Sooyoung didn’t even register the reply before she started typing again, her fingers moving hastily on the screen and her eyebrows furrowed.
Sooyoung: im gonna kill someone
Sooyoung: my neighbor decided to have a party
Sooyoung: on a tuesday
Sooyoung: the tuesday before the final exam
Haseul instantly read the messages. She seemed to think about what to answer for a while and then started typing back an answer.
Seul: yikes
Seul: what kind of music are they listening to?
Sooyoung: after school by weeekly i think
Seul: you know what? taste
Sooyoung: can you be more helpful pleeease
Sooyoung: i really dont need this today
Seul: what do you want me to do? go tell them to stop i guess
Sooyoung: but you know i hate to be that kind of person...
Seul: then perish :D!
She resented Haseul because she was too straightforward but also because she was always right. However, she couldn’t just go in there and complain. Not only she didn’t feel like confronting someone; she also didn’t want to appear like a grandma that doesn’t allow any kind of fun. Once, her bones had cracked while she was stretching and Jungeun still called her old and made fun of her for it. That was enough for that topic already.
She picked up her earplugs again. She decided to try a combination of earplugs plus headphones. And with that, she closed her eyes and tried some breathing exercises hoping to stop her blood from boiling.
"One, two, thr-"
A new wave of screams erupted.
This time, it almost felt like her walls were vibrating. There were also some distinguishable words like “hit it” and “harder”. Sooyoung’s face flushed red.
It was at this point that she got up from her chair and determinedly limped (still hurt from before) to her room’s door.
---
She did not have to walk much to reach her neighbor’s door. But then she just stood there for longer than she thought was socially acceptable, practicing in her head how to approach the dreaded conversation. Finally, she knocked.
The music and voices felt much louder from where she stood. After a minute or two, she guessed that they would even be loud enough for her knocking to go unnoticed. She tried again, this time almost hurting her knuckles in the process.
Nothing happened for a minute. Then, the volume of the music was lowered and someone opened the door.
“Hello?” said the black-haired girl who opened the door.
Sooyoung blinked. She suddenly felt underdressed. Her messy study bun, the sweatpants, and the crop-top contrasted with the other girl’s impeccable appearance. She was really pretty, the kind of pretty you see and remember for a while. That during the days after seeing that person, you are suddenly reminded of just because. The kind of pretty you feel the need to tell your friends about, to discuss how it is possible such people exist and why the world is just not fair.
Sooyoung’s hands were sweating, her throat was dry. She was not sure she could do this.
Then a noise broke from behind the girl. There was a group of girls cheering for another that was wearing a blindfold and holding a bat, she was trying to hit a piñata.
Sooyoung felt like she had just been hit by that bat and brought back to reality.
“Hi,” her voice sounded bleak so she cleared her throat before starting again. This time she was determined to deliver her whole speech. “Erm… Hello, I’m Sooyoung your next-door neighbor, as in your wall is also my wall and you see-”
She was interrupted before she could finish. “Oh. Oh no. Please don’t tell me we were making too much noise”
The girl seemed really afflicted by this. To Sooyoung's surprise, she was even pouting. Was that even a thing that adults did? And why was it so attractive?
Sooyoung should have felt like jumping in glee or high-fiving herself. If the distress on the other girl's face meant something, it was that she would stop, thus, Sooyoung would finally be able to go back to studying, and then? She would smoothly pass her exam tomorrow.
That did not happen because Sooyoung got instead lost in the puppy face the other girl was making.
“Em, look…” She stopped. “I’m sorry your name is?”
“Jinsol”
“Okay. Look, Jinsol, I did come to complain because of the noise, I kind of have an important exam tomorrow…” Jinsol's face was progressively becoming more distraught the more Sooyoung kept talking. “However... I’m sure we can reach an agreement that benefits the both of us, right?”
Sooyoung was playing with her hands as she talked. Why was she so affected by Jinsol? She wasn't normally like this. Sooyoung was sure she had even surpassed Jungeun's level of useless lesbian. She glanced at the other girl to see that she was looking straight back at her. Sooyoung was sure she had Jinsol's full undivided attention.
“Of course!” Jinsol responded enthusiastically. “Yeojin, my cousin, she is just… a lot. It’s her birthday today and her friends wanted to give her a surprise party. I don’t know why I decided to offer my room for it, I should have thought about the chaos they would make and...”
At this point, the girl was ranting to her, however, Sooyoung had stopped actually listening to what she was saying soon after she had started. The two working brain cells that were in charge of her brain that day had decided that they would use a 100% of their power to memorize every single inch of Jinsol's face. And of her voice... Oh God, her voice. Her voice was so deep and attractive. The pace at which the words left her mouth was captivating, the pause between each word was making Sooyoung wonder what was coming next. She was mesmerized and she was pretty sure she looked like a fool, just standing there staring. Because even if she was noticing every single sound leaving Jinsol's mouth, she was processing none of it.
Or she should have been worrying about how much of what was happening to her was noticeable by the other girl. But she couldn’t stop.
Jinsoul was now smiling at Sooyoung as she spoke, an indication to Sooyoung that they had moved away from the previous topic. “... I suppose you wouldn't be interested on joining the party?” Jinsol asked.
“I-” Sooyoung stutters. She knows she shouldn't. But she cannot stop herself from considering it because at that moment there is not a thing she would want more than to spend some more time with the girl she just met. “I'm sorry. I really should go back to study,” she finally declares. “But another time... maybe?”
Jinsol smiles, seemingly content with that resolution. Sooyoung is then working up the courage to ask for her number when they are interrupted.
A girl standing behind Jinsoul had taken her attention away from Sooyoung.
Sooyoung used this moment to take a deep breath and held her hand up to her cheek. She felt how warm her face was, her flustered state was more apparent than she had thought.
“I think I left the plastic cups in my backpack and Yerim should have the plates,” Jinsoul told the new girl. “Hyejoo, I leave you in charge while I take care of this, okay?”
The girl, now identified to Sooyoung as Hyejoo, went back into the room screaming, “You heard her, I’m now in charge!” to which the group of girls responded with a groan.
“Sorry again,” Jinsoul apologized, turning back to Sooyoung. “I will try to control them from now on. I promise.”
To which Sooyoung nodded while uttering a small “Thanks”.
Sooyoung guessed this was how their conversation ended. If she was honest with herself she didn’t want it to be over, but she had no excuse to keep it going and the both of them had other places to be.
With an almost unnoticeable hand gesture, Sooyoung started walking back to her room.
As she was turning the doorknob to her room, Jinsoul’s voice stopped her, “Sooyoung! Can you wait there for one second?”
The pleading face was back and Sooyoung melted right in the spot she was standing, clinging to this new opportunity to talk to her. “Yeah, sure.”
Immediately, Jinsoul disappeared into her room, leaving Sooyoung in the dorm corridor standing dumbfounded. The other girl rushed back not long after, now carrying a plate with a piece of cake with her.
She extended it to Sooyoung. “Good luck with your exam. Please accept this as an appology slash nice to meet you gift.”
“Gladly,” Sooyoung said smiling.
Once she was back in her room, she deposited the cake on her desk trying not to dirty any of the notes spread all over it.
There were still some noises coming from the other side of the wall. This time she clearly recognized one of the voices. She tried to focus to understand what she was saying.
“Girls, please,” Jinsol whined. “The cute girl next door asked me if we could make less noise...”
There was a small scream by the other girls as a response to that. But Sooyoung didn’t care.
She sat on her chair, smiling like an idiot.
Soon after, she went back to studying but this time with renewed energy.
Some hours later, Sooyoung put her notes back into a pile. She was done for tonight. She felt much more prepared than when she had started this afternoon. The noises had also been kept to a minimum, meaning Jinsoul had kept her promise.
As she remembered her previous conversation with her, the piece of cake still standing on her desk caught her attention. She wished she could have kept it as a memento. Something to show her grandchildren when she told the story about the day she met the love of her life.
However, the cake already started to show signs of decay because, of course, as busy as she was drooling over Jinsoul, she had forgotten to put it inside her minifridge.
She decided she had no choice but to eat it now.
Two things surprised Sooyoung. The first was that it was the best cake she had ever eaten. The second was the paper she found under it.
The paper had some cake smudges on it, but nothing that was not easily cleanable. The words on it were still perfectly clear.
There was a phone number followed by a simple sentence that almost made Sooyoung's heart stop.
“Text me after you ace that exam -J :]”
And Sooyoung was ready to do just that.