Chapter Text
Aeri flings open the door to her dormitory for the final time and makes a beeline towards her bed. She falls face-first into her pillow and groans into it.
Somi doesn’t even look up from her collection of broken Gundam figurines. “Did they find out about Cooper?”
Aeri rolls over in her bed and stares blankly at the ceiling. There’s a rustling under her bed as Cooper wiggles out of his makeshift bed, eyes wide with wonderment.
“Management is giving me until tomorrow to get my shit and get out.”
Somi lets out a low whistle. “I’d say it’s about time. I’m honestly surprised it took them this long.”
“Would it hurt to at least be a little bit upset for me?”
“That rabid thing pees everywhere and barks like a maniac at three in the morning.” Somi points at the dark circles beneath her bloodshot eyes. “I’m glad to see it go.”
Cooper lets out a guilty whimper. Aeri covers his ears protectively and glares daggers at Somi. “How dare you say that about Cooper?”
“He chewed through my goddamn Gundam collection. I should have poisoned his food when I had the chance.”
Aeri holds her hands up and admits she doesn’t have an excuse for that. She brings Cooper’s head to her chin and sighs miserably.
“I need a new place to live,” Aeri says. “Preferably with someone who doesn’t hate dogs.”
“I love dogs. Just not that one.” Somi replies.
“You gotta help me,” Aeri begs.
“Why should I?”
“Because… We’re friends?”
“I’ll hook you up with a cozy cardboard box by the roadside outside campus.”
“Surely I deserve better than that.”
“Rent is free.”
“Somi, please?” Aeri pouts, giving Somi her signature puppy eyes which have brought countless women to their knees. “Pretty please? You know I don’t have any friends other than you.”
Maybe it’s the puppy eyes, or maybe Aeri is just very good at begging. Either way, Somi clicks her tongue and finally relents. “Fine. I’ll ask around.”
Aeri cheers, causing Cooper to startle and start growling.
Aeri jumps off the bed and starts shoveling dirty clothes into her backpack. She holds out a pair of used gym shorts and waves it at Somi.
“Help me pack?”
“Go fuck yourself,” Somi grumbles as she grabs the gym shorts.
—
The next day, a girl named Yeji greets them in front of an apartment building. Aeri did her research last night. The neighbourhood was safe, and popular with families. It was only a twenty-minute bus ride to campus. Most importantly, the rent was affordable enough. It was the most Aeri could have possibly hoped for.
“Hi, you’re Aeri?” Yeji stretches out her hand, but Aeri is carrying a precariously stacked pile of boxes while Cooper runs circles around her. Yeji awkwardly retracts her hand.
“That’s… me!” Aeri grunts, trying to look past the cardboard boxes. Her muscles ache.
“Do you need help with that?” Yeji offers.
“No! No, it’s fine. Let’s just go. I needed to put these down, like, five minutes ago.”
Beside Aeri, Somi grunts in agreement, also carrying a mountain of boxes filled with Aeri’s trinkets and essential items. “Lead the way, Yeji.”
The trio (and Cooper) shuffle into the elevator and take it to the fourth floor. They stop in front of the door with the numbers 04-11 engraved on it.
When Yeji rings the doorbell, Aeri’s heart inexplicably starts to beat faster. The move was so sudden, and she’d barely had time to mentally prepare herself for it. She wonders whether her landlord would be similar to the nightmarish ones on that show she watches from time to time.
As if sensing her apprehension, Yeji gives Aeri a reassuring smile.
“Don’t worry, Jimin’s really nice. You’re gonna love her.”
The door flies open and Aeri peeks past her cardboard boxes. A pair of doll-like eyes stare back at her.
“Who are you?” The young girl didn’t look much older than five or six. Dark shoulder-length hair frames her adorable face.
“This is my new landlady?!” Aeri whispers towards Yeji, who laughs and shakes her head.
“No, silly. This is your new landlady’s niece.”
“You didn’t say anything about kids!”
“I didn’t think it’d be an issue.”
“Kids are annoying, and loud, and gross-”
“I’m not annoying! You’re mean.” The girl crosses her arms and pouts. “And I bathe every day, I’m not a stinky pooper like you are!”
Aeri huffs. She has a feeling she’s going to hate this kid.
Thankfully, they’re interrupted by the sound of frantic footsteps, and the wailing of a grumpy toddler. A frazzled young woman appears, carrying a crying baby in her arms.
“Minjeong! Don’t be rude to strangers.” She turns to them, and Aeri is immediately starstruck by her beauty. Aeri blows the unruly bangs away from her face. Two annoying kids, and a beautiful landlady to boot. Aeri is gonna die.
Minjeong points a stubby finger at Aeri. “She called me gross.”
The woman opens her mouth, then closes it again in defeat. She opts to flash Aeri a tired smile.
“You must be Aeri, right? I’m Jimin. Nice to meet you. Why don’t you come in and put your stuff down? Then we can discuss your contract.”
Aeri stares at Jimin, enraptured by her silky voice. She shakes herself out of her trance.
“O-oh! Yeah, I’d love that.” Aeri’s voice doesn’t sound like her own. For starters, her tone isn’t usually that squeaky. She brushes it off as jitters. Totally not because she might be way too excited to be sharing a living space with a total milf.
Jimin is busy pacifying the crying baby, but she expertly uses head jerks to direct Aeri to her room. Aeri takes the time to survey her new home for the next six months. The apartment is small but cozy, with large windows to let in natural light. The open space that precedes a narrow hallway houses a dining table, with the kitchen in a room off to the side. On Aeri’s right, the walls of the living room are generously decorated with paintings, drawings, and photographs.
Her room is at the end of the hallway. She uses her foot to nudge the door open and sets down her belongings. The pleasant smell of lavender fills her nostrils. The room has everything Aeri would need. A bed, a desk, and a wardrobe for all her things. Cooper jumps onto the bed and immediately falls asleep. Aeri finds solace in the fact that Cooper is taking well to his new surroundings.
Somi unceremoniously dumps the boxes she was holding against the wall and surveys the room. “It’s not as bad as I thought it’d be.”
Aeri shrugs. “I’ll just be sleeping here. And it’s not like I have time to sleep anyway.”
“That’s why I told you that the cardboard box outside campus was a more economical option.”
Aeri rolls her eyes. “Well, sorry for being pampered.” She takes a peek outside her room and down the hallway. Jimin is feeding the baby while trying to get Minjeong to stop picking her nose and do her homework. Aeri shouldn’t disturb. She closes the door.
“Got the hots for someone?” Yeji smirks at Aeri.
Aeri snorts. “I’m not ashamed to admit that she’s super hot.”
“I’m gonna tell her you said that.” Yeji says.
“Woah, woah! You can’t do that!” Aeri frantically waves her arms. “I’ll have to start living on the streets if that’s the case.”
“I keep telling you it’s more economical!” Somi butts in.
“You’re literally flunking your wealth management course, don’t lecture me about how to manage my money.”
Somi holds her hands up in defeat. Aeri pushes a charm she brought from Japan into Somi’s hand.
“Help me unpack?”
Somi groans and puts the charm on the bedside table. “I should really learn to start saying no.”
“Or maybe,” Aeri starts piling her book collection onto Somi’s reluctant arms. “You could learn to shut up and help me unpack.”
The three of them spend the rest of the afternoon unpacking Aeri’s things. When she’s not busy with the kids and house chores, Jimin pops in with drinks and snacks. Aeri gets a mini heart attack every time Jimin’s beautiful head pops into her room. It’s not a crush. She swears it’s not. She’s just unusually jumpy today for no particular reason.
When Aeri slides her final anime figurine into place, the last rays of sunlight are already sifting through the gaps in between the blinds. There’s a tantalising smell wafting from the dining room. Aeri goes to take a look and tries to maintain her composure when she sees Jimin wearing an apron, her hair tied into an attractive bun.
“You done unpacking?” Jimin asks. Aeri nods and stands there. She’s not sure whether she’s salivating over the dishes on the table or over… something else.
Jimin invites Yeji and Somi to stay for dinner, which they eagerly accept. As they eat, Minjeong casts suspicious glares at Aeri from across the table. Aeri devises a plan to throw her out the window. She’ll get around to it one day.
She finds out that the toddler’s name is Yizhuo. Jimin says that she likes to cry. A lot. She cries when she’s getting changed. She cries when she wakes up. She cries when she’s tired. She cries when she poops. She cries when she’s hungry. She cries when the temperature isn’t adjusted to her liking. Sometimes she poops and is hungry at the same time, so she cries twice as loud.
“Isn’t that just how babies work?” Yeji inquires. Jimin shoots her a tired look, somehow emphasizing the dark circles around her eyes. Yeji takes the hint and keeps her mouth shut.
“I think she’s cute enough.” Aeri offers as Yizhuo smears mashed potato all over her face and laughs like a maniac.
“She’s cute when she’s not crying, at least,” Jimin replies with some feeling.
After dinner, Somi and Yeji prepare to leave. After her nonchalance about Aeri moving out, she’s surprised when Somi wraps her in a crushing hug and sobs dramatically about losing her roommate.
“Who else is gonna listen to me have a breakdown over failing wealth management?” She wails into Aeri’s shoulder.
Sheesh. Talk about a delayed grief response. After a lot of coaxing and reassurance that Aeri isn’t dead and they can always hang out in campus, Somi finally lets her go. Yeji gives Aeri a fistbump and wiggles her eyebrows suggestively.
“I don’t have a crush,” Aeri says through gritted teeth.
Yeji stifles a laugh. “Oh yeah. We’ll see about that.” From the corner of her eye, Aeri can see Jimin watching them intently with an adorably bewildered look on her face. She closes the door on Yeji a little too hard.
—
Despite Jimin’s protests, Aeri offers to wash the dishes with her. As much as Jimin tries to be a good host, Aeri also wants to be a good tenant. It’s also her chance to get to know Jimin a little more.
Their conversation is smooth and natural as they flit from topic to topic. They discuss Aeri’s progress in college, and how Jimin manages to take care of two kids at the tender age of twenty-two.
“It’s tough work,” Jimin admits. “Somedays I just want to stay in bed all day and do nothing. But then Minjeong won’t take her bath and Yizhuo will probably eat a firetruck and choke to death. I can’t be having that on my conscience.”
Aeri figures it must be a tough job. She also finds Minjeong a pain, but Jimin doesn’t need to know that. “They seem like a handful, not gonna lie.”
“They’re a handful, alright.” Jimin chuckles. “But I love them. Of course I do.” Fondness lingers in her tone.
“Aunty Jimin, I think Yizhuo did a poop aga-”
Minjeong saunters into the kitchen and freezes when she sees Aeri. Aeri raises her soapy plate in a defensive stance.
“Why is she still here?”
“Hey, I have a name, you know.” Aeri flares.
“Aeri going to be living with us now. Try getting along with her, hm?”
“No.” Minjeong folds her arms indignantly, like a little adult. “She called me annoying.”
“I’m not wrong though?”
“Minjeong, you should be polite to Aeri.” Jimin says firmly.
Minjeong sticks out her tongue at Aeri and makes a mocking sound before running back to her room.
Aeri glares at Minjeong’s retreating figure. Operation Minjeong Out Window is officially a go.
Jimin sighs and massages her temples. “I’m so sorry. She’s usually not like this.”
“It’s okay! It’s not your fault.” Aeri tries to laugh it off. Minjeong’s just some dumb kindergartener, and she’s literally in her last year of college. “I’ll try my best to stay out of your way.”
Jimin opens her mouth to say something, but Minjeong starts screaming incoherently from her room and Yizhuo starts wailing from the living room.
Aeri watches on dumbly as Jimin sprints out of the kitchen and picks up Yizhuo before speedwalking to Minjeong’s room.
“Minjeong! What’s wrong?”
“There’s a spider!”
Aeri blinks incredulously. She goes back to doing the dishes. Jimin probably needs all the help she can get.
—
It’s well past midnight when Aeri sits at her desk to start on her essay due tomorrow. Maybe she could’ve finished by now, but she spent the last three hours testing out the wifi connection by watching youtube for three hours straight. The results were conclusive though; the wifi in this house is strong, to Aeri’s detriment.
There’s a knock on the door. It’s gentle and considerate, unlike Somi who usually barges into their room when Aeri’s either nude or facedown on the floor. Her heart aches suddenly.
“Come in!”
Jimin’s beautiful head pops into view, and the room feels a bit brighter.
“Are you busy?” She asks.
“Not really. Would you like to sit?” Aeri looks around for a place for Jimin to sit, realises she’s taken the only chair in the room, then awkwardly pats her bed, gesturing for Jimin to sit on it.
“No, it’s okay. I just wanted to see if you and Cooper were settling in fine.” Jimin’s eyes dart around the room sheepishly. “Sorry if you didn’t feel very welcomed. I had a lot on my plate today. I’ll try to make it up to you soon.”
Aeri immediately softens. Her landlady is a total hottie and a total sweetheart. “It’s okay! You don’t have to apologise for anything. I understand you’re really busy, so I’ll try not to get in the way.”
“No,” Jimin closes the distance, and Aeri leans back against her chair slightly, her heart skips a beat. “I don’t usually get tenants my age. And- and it’s hard to meet people since I’ve got kids to take care of. So…” Jimin swallows, her face is slightly flushed. “I hope that we can become… friends?”
“What kind of question is that?” Aeri can’t help but break into a smile. “Of course we can be friends.”
Jimin flashes a smile as bright as the sun. It’s blinding. “That’s good.”
There’s a momentary beat of silence that hangs in the air before Jimin clears her throat.
“It’s late. You should sleep.”
Aeri shakes her head and nods to the empty word document on her laptop screen. “I’m a college student. I don’t sleep.”
Right on cue, Yizhuo’s piercing cry crashes through the peace of the night.
Jimin huffs. “Guess that makes two of us. Good night, Aeri.”
“Good night,” Aeri replies. Jimin smiles and shuts the door behind her, leaving Aeri alone, acutely aware of the low drone coming from her laptop, and the way her heart hammers against her ribcage.
—
Aeri’s first week in her new home could be classified as nothing short of an unmitigated disaster.
She wakes up late on her first morning and rushes to school in her pajama pants. She then rips said pajama pants when running to class and has to hide in the bathroom until Somi arrives with a new set.
Her professors were on a mission this week to pile as much work as they could onto their poor, sleep-deprived students. Aeri never came back in time for dinner, and she was often too exhausted to talk to Jimin. It’s difficult to be friends with someone when you barely have time to see them. Aeri just hopes that Jimin can understand.
The rest of the household wasn’t faring much better. Minjeong’s tantrums were frequent, and Aeri would often drown out her screaming matches with Jimin by blasting music through her headphones.
And for some godforsaken reason, Yizhuo wouldn’t stop crying. Changing milk formulas, changing her diapers every ten minutes. No matter what Jimin tried, nothing seemed to quell Yizhuo’s sobs.
Naturally, when the kids were being difficult, Jimin would be stressed to no end. One night, when Aeri snuck out of her room for a late-night pantry raid, she almost stepped on Jimin, who was curled up into a ball on the floor, too tired to even crawl into her own bed. She tried waking Jimin up, but she was dead as a stone.
It’s three in the morning by the time Aeri collapses onto her bed for some well-deserved rest. 3 am just so happens to be the opportune time for Yizhuo to start screaming bloody murder, waking up the rest of the neighbourhood, Cooper included. His angry barks somehow wake up every single canine in the block, and now all of them are conjuring up a symphony of barks and howls.
Aeri covers her ears with her pillow as Cooper barks out the window, eager to outbark his peers. She can’t imagine waking up the next morning just to go through this all over again.
The next morning is chaotic as usual. Aeri walks out of her room and immediately steps on a stray lego. After spending the next ten minutes trying to recover from a blatant attempt on her life, she limps into the living room. Jimin, Minjeong, and Yizhuo are all at the dining table. Minjeong is sulking, as usual. Yizhuo is still crying about something. Whatever that thing is, Aeri can’t fault her passion for it.
Jimin is feeding Yizhuo breakfast with one hand while she types furiously on her laptop with the other. She doesn’t even spare Aeri a glance.
“Good morning, Aeri! Hope you slept well last night. Yizhuo was crying all night and Minjeong kept having nightmares. I think Cooper was barking too? Anyway, I didn’t get a wink of sleep last night and I feel awful.” Yizhuo interrupts with a new round of crying. Jimin lets out an exasperated sigh. “Can you please stop crying? Please? And Minjeong, can you get changed for school? You’re gonna be late.”
“Shouldn’t you take Yizhuo to see the doctor?” Aeri suggests. “If she’s crying this much, she might be sick or something.”
Jimin looks at Aeri with glassy eyes. “It’s the only thing I haven’t tried yet.” She looks worriedly at Minjeong. “But I need to send Minjeong to school.”
“I’ll send her.” The words are out of Aeri’s mouth before she can stop herself. Minjeong drops her spoon into her cereal bowl.
Jimin brightens at the offer. “Really? You will?”
Aeri nods tentatively. Her first lecture is starting soon. She might as well lessen Jimin’s burden wherever she can.
“Minjeong, what do you think?” Jimin asks.
“Ew.” Minjeong makes a face.
Aeri has half a mind to pour a jug of milk all over Minjeong’s head. She catches herself and remembers that she’s the adult here. She forces a smile and opts to be conciliatory.
Minjeong stares at her blankly before she sighs. “Okay…”
They finish getting ready, and Aeri shepherds Minjeong downstairs, but not before Jimin fusses over Minjeong’s hair and ensures that she’s packed her lunch.
The short walk to Minjeong’s kindergarten is quiet. The silence becomes unbearable and Aeri just needs to find a way to break it.
“How’s school?”
Minjeong shrugs. “It’s boring.”
“Cherish kindergarten while you can. It gets much worse from there.”
“Do you like university?”
“Yes and no. A lot of homework. And the homework is hard.” Aeri grimaces at the papers jangling in her bag.
There’s another beat of silence between them.
“Do you really think I smell bad?” Minjeong asks shyly.
Aeri blinks. “What? Is this why you’ve been angry at me?”
Minjeong doesn’t reply and keeps her head down, kicking pebbles along the pavement.
“It was a generalization. Unlike most kids, at least you bathe.” Aeri tries to reassure Minjeong.
“You don’t hate me?”
“Not really.” Aeri’s lips curve upwards into an amused smile.
Minjeong’s eyes crinkle as she smiles back. “Okay.”
They arrive at the school gate, and Minjeong walks ahead.
“Have fun at school, Minjeong.” Aeri waves.
Minjeong turns and waves back. “You too.”
Aeri watches her back as she walks into school. Operation Minjeong Out Window is suspended for now, or until the next time Minjeong pisses her off.
—
For the first time since she moved here, Aeri arrives home in time for dinner.
Jimin greets her excitedly. “I took Yizhuo to the doctor. Turns out she was feeling gassy. She’s much better now.” Sure enough, Yizhuo isn’t crying anymore and is back to sticking rice grains on her face. Minjeong spots Aeri and gives her a small wave.
“What a relief,” Aeri says.
“Are you hungry? Why don’t you join us for dinner?” Jimin gestures to the table where there’s an empty seat.
Aeri doesn’t think twice. She’s starving. She sits down at the table and marvels at the dishes on display. The takeout junk she used to eat with Somi pales in comparison.
The quartet eats and chat about their day. Minjeong is full of stories from kindergarten while Jimin complains about the long waiting line at the children’s clinic. The table breaks down into laughter when Yizhuo makes herself a moustache out of rice grains.
There’s a certain peacefulness that envelops the space, and Aeri catches herself laughing as well. Her heart and stomach is full. And for the first time since she got here, Aeri feels at ease.