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Chapter Text

Being the 'youngest cousin' (so to speak) out of Celine's family and friends means that as the beginning of Rumi's time at Seoul National University draws closer and closer, she is bombarded with advice from almost everyone she knows.

It doesn't matter whether they went to university two or twenty years ago. Suddenly, everyone she knows - Celine's friends she sees once a year, aunts who struggle to remember what degree she is doing and cousins in their mid-twenties who have quite literally never shown an interest in her or her life before - they are all pulling her to the side whenever she sees them and giving wildly conflicting accounts of what 'the uni experience' will be like.

"It's gonna suck," one cousin tells her flatly. "In first year, one of my flatmates stole so much of my food we had to get lawyers involved, and another just had sex on our communal sofa like, daily."

"It'll be the best years of your life," says an uncle. "I don't remember half of them, but that's what made them so good!"

"Just make sure you don't snort anything up your nose," Celine's best friend tells her once, making Rumi go wide-eyed, "and you'll probably be okay."

As for Celine herself? "You know I don't care what you do," she tells Rumi in a resigned voice as they sit at their kitchen table one day. "I trust you. Just make sure-"

"That no one sees my patterns. I know."

Rumi's half-demon heritage has always been easy to hide. Her patterns are easily covered by a short-sleeved t-shirt, but it has made things like changing rooms or going swimming anywhere remotely public or working out at the gym difficult.

And despite being physically easy, hiding her patterns has an emotional toll. Rumi has never had friends, if you define friendship by being open and sharing all your secrets with each other, as most girls her age do. Sleepovers were one of the most dangerous environments she could imagine, and had been strictly forbidden by Celine her entire life. As had going to parties, after-school hangouts and generally getting close to anyone her age.

Rumi understands. Secret for centuries, it had come out since the turn of the millenium that demons did exist in their world, and had been held back for generations by Hunters who used song to power a shield called the Honmoon, which allegedly kept their world safe from demons. Celine, while not a Hunter, knew much more about demons than the average person, and after Rumi's mother's death, had dedicated herself to protecting Rumi.

Rule number one of protecting Rumi? Making sure no one found out she was a demon, or else she would die.

The risks were real. Despite all her digging, Celine had never discovered the existence of another half-demon. On the one hand, the idea of being completely unique was cool. On the other hand, the uncertainty of what that meant was terrifying. If a Hunter ever found Rumi, would they spare her? Or would they strike her down, seeing her as one of the monsters they killed nightly?

Such thoughts are not pleasant to dwell on, and will guarantee a night of absolutely no sleep if Rumi ever finds herself doing so. So she tries to get on with living her life as normally, or as close to normal as she can.

Given all of that, going to university, away from the protection of Celine in their sleepy village and straight to the middle of Seoul seems like the most reckless thing anyone could possibly do. And Celine agrees - she and Rumi have had many explosive arguments, often ending with them going to bed still angry with each other, unable to see each other's point of view. They argued so much that Rumi ended up delaying a year, among a couple of other reasons. Their conflict boils down to a simple truth: Celine wants to protect to her, but Rumi is nineteen. She can't be protected forever.

So in a few short weeks, Rumi is going to university, and though she would never admit it to Celine now after everything that has transpired between them, she is feeling overwhelmed.

However, the same friend of Celine's who'd imparted the 'no sniffing anything up your nose' advice had another suggestion. "Why don't you try finding your flatmates or your coursemates online before you actually go to uni?" she'd said one day. "People go on social media and say whereabouts they're moving in, try to create groupchats on KakaoTalk, stuff like that. I think my niece ended up finding her flat early that way. She hated them all by the end of the year, of course, but it helped her feel more settled at the start."

So one quiet evening, Rumi finds herself lying on her bed, absentmindedly flicking through the #SeoulNationalUniversity hashtag across social media. Celine's friend was right - there are thousands of posts and videos created by her fellow incoming students, all sharing what course they're doing, what accomodation they're moving into, whether they're excited, whether they're nervous, asking if anyone else is in the same boat and potentially also living in the same building or doing the same course as them so they can make friends.

Rumi frowns. She had initially thought the idea a bit far-fetched, or perfect for weirdos to try and get young students to doxx their information publicly, but the more she scrolls, the more she realises all these posts are legit. Half of them have faces of students attached, or use information way too specific that surely only SNU students would know, or have other clear indicators that yes, these really are just a bunch of young adults desperate to make friends.

She spends hours scouring the Internet this way. She'd been hopeful to try and find people on her course first and foremost, as that seemed like the most solid bet for people similar to her, but all she finds is hundreds of people proclaiming they're about to start in Law, or Medicine, or Engingeering, or any of the other subjects she has absolutely no interest in. Eventually, she gives up and just mindlessly scrolls through random posts about the uni, hoping to at least get some advice or insight she hasn't seen yet so she hasn't completely wasted her evening.

Then, she sees it. A short video by a frankly adorable girl with hair in space buns who currently lives in the US, but will be moving back to Korea for her course at SNU shortly. Rumi becomes enraptured by her mini-vlog, endeared by her fast-paced narration and rich description of her life and interests. Doubly so when the girl mentions which building she's going to be moving into, and Rumi realises it's the same as hers.

"Yeah, I think I'm on, like the eighth floor of it or something?" the girl laughs in the video. "Super high up! But luckily I love heights, so it's a good thing."

…Rumi is also living on the eighth floor, unless she is mistaken.

A quick check of her email about her accomodation confirms she is not. A warm feeling blossoms inside her, the dawning realisation that in a few short weeks, she and this bubbly girl will be living in the exact same place. Maybe they'd even become friends.

…Wait. That is literally the whole point of why she started doing this - trying to make friends early instead of leaving it until the day she moves in.

Rumi takes a deep breath and comments on the video.

Rumi0620: I'm living on the eighth floor of the same building, I think? We might be neighbours!

It doesn't take long for her to get a reply. A notification pops up less than 5 minutes later.

zozozozoeyy: OMG OMG OMG!!! SO COOL! can i pls get ur kakaotalk

For a moment, Rumi thinks of Celine downstairs, thinks of how she'd probably highly disapprove of Rumi giving out her information to strangers on the Internet. Even after all of their arguments, Rumi still doesn't like defying her.

Yet as she thinks of the possibility of moving in and everyone else already being friends with each other, that terrifies her too.

Rumi0620: Sure!

Barely another two minutes after that, her KakaoTalk app lights up with a friend request.

Zoey: hey!! so can i ask which flat ur in if u dont mind
its chill if u dont wanna share haha! i would understand
only ive already found one of my flatmates so if you were in my flat we could all make a gc woah
or just make one anyway as we're still the same floor

Rumi: Hey no worries I don't mind. I'm room 806

Zoey: GASP
IM 807
SAME FLAT!!!!!!
THIS IS PERFECT
GC WILL BE CREATED
i mean. if u wanna be in a gc!!!

Rumi: No thats totally fine!! Sort of what I was looking for anyway scrolling through SNU posts anyway haha

Zoey: OK GIMME A SEC

Rumi grins at her phone again, which is now being lit up with the fact that she's been added to a new groupchat called 'Room 805-807!!'. Given this Zoey girl's enthusiasm so far, she'd expected it to have a name like 'NEW BESTIES FOREVER!!!' or something, but she supposes that might be moving a bit too quickly too early, even for Zoey.

Speaking of Zoey, her icon is already typing away.

Zoey: MIRA guess what!
weve found the girl in 806!!
this is rumi
or well im assuming this is rumi based on your username hahaha

Rumi: You are correct :) this is rumi

Mira: yo
I'm Mira and as you might have guessed I'm the girl living in 805

Rumi takes a moment to look at Mira's profile. While Zoey's has her beaming face as her avatar, Mira's, like her own, is anonymous. It's a selfie, but taken in a mirror of what looks like a dance studio and angled in a way that you can't actually see her face.

As much as Zoey's enthusiasm and openness is great, Rumi feels an odd sense of kinship with Mira. Which is far too much to take away from just her profile picture, but they are going to be living with each other, so maybe it's okay to be a bit eager.

Zoey: me and mira have only been chatting for like, the last day, so you really havent missed much!!
this is so exciting aaa
how old are you rumi!! and what degree are you doing??

Rumi: I'm 19, and doing vocal arts
What about you guys?

Zoey: oh so ur the same age as mira!

Mira: Yeah looks like youre officially the baby, zoey.

Zoey: you know what? i can live with that
god forbid a girl wants to rush off to uni in another country immediately after graduating high school!!
well not immediately but you get me

Rumi thinks that she also wanted to do that, but she does not know these girls well enough to get into the Celine-related reasons that stopped her. Instead, she offers an alternative explanation.

Rumi: I was also gonna do that to be fair, minus the other country part, but I was trying to force myself to do electrical engineering when I… really did not want to
My mom had to step in and ask me what on earth I was doing and why I wasn't doing anything related to music when its the only thing I really enjoy. So I decided to reapply the next cycle with a degree I actually want to do

Not a lie at all. Just far from the whole truth. However, even though these girls may be her future flatmates, now is not the time for a trauma dump. Or ever, really, if she wants to keep her most important secret.

Mira: God if that isnt a mood.

Zoey: omg YEAH!!!! just realised this means we're all arty people :DD
im doing creative writing!! and miras doing physical education

Mira: Well, I guess its arty in a way. I specialise in dance but I do like other sports as well
And I also took a year out cause I was this close to doing some bullshit medicine degree I was not remotely interested in
In the end I only convinced my parents not to cause they knew I would fail if I did it. And theres some science in physical education, so theyre happy enough.

Zoey: mine do not understand my choices either higdfkjs
but its ok!! im SO excited to start
i cant believe we only have a few weeks!!!!!

Rumi: Yeah! I am excited too
But nervous. I come from a tiny village and I've only been to Seoul like, a handful of times

Mira: Youll get used to it. Trust me

Zoey: i mean MOOD i havent lived properly in seoul for like ten years whoops

Mira: Oh and im not even worried about you.

Zoey: what does THAT mean!!

Mira: I do not get the impression that you're someone who will struggle with adjusting to a big new city

Zoey: …you know what. fair enough

Mira: And even if you do, you can vlog about it.

Zoey: SO true omg how did you end up being so smart mira
oh btw guys!! do i get permission to make some vlogs with you guys in when we move in??
and i have SO many tiktoks we need to recreate its gonna be AMAZING

Rumi looks down at her phone, a smile unconcisouly finding its way onto her face without her even realising.

Rumi: You should send the tiktoks here!!

Mira: Yeah, so we know what hell we're getting into.

Zoey: oh SHUSH. you'll love it
i am only listening to rumi from now on
eee this is so COOL guys!!! what the fuck!!!!

They keep talking into the early hours of the morning, Zoey's timezone and both Rumi and Mira's clear refusal to go to bed allowing them to do so. And when Rumi does finally call it a night, she is exhausted, but hopeful.

Even if she has to hide her patterns from them, she can still see Mira and Zoey becoming her first real friends she's ever had.

Chapter Text

Zoey has a problem: she’s only been messaging Mira and Rumi for like, a week, and she already has a teeny tiny crush on both of them.

By teeny tiny, she means she thinks about them every hour of her day, especially when where they’re quiet on the group chat due to being asleep. A sixteen-hour time difference is very homophobic, if you ask her, when all she wants to do is message her girls constantly.

And yes, she is self-aware of the fact she already calls them her girls.

Look. She did not intend for this to happen. She really, really did not. She thought she’d save meeting pretty girls for when she was actually in Korea and she also did not think she’d fall for her flatmates. Like, hello? Terrible idea, and everyone knows it. But it’s sort of just… happened, and it gets harder every day to remind herself that this is definitely a bad thing.

Because Mira and Rumi are… well, they’re just so lovely. Zoey had thought the group chat might die after a surge of initial conversation, before reviving a couple of days before move-in day. She thought she was okay with that possibility, but now the three of them have been chatting away every moment of their free time with no signs of slowing down, she’s way happier to be living in this timeline.

But yeah. She’s still in dangerous territory, and she knows it. With all the time she has to kill until her flight in three weeks, she’s made a list of Reasons Why She Really Shouldn’t Be Falling For Rumi and Mira:

1. She hasn’t actually seen what they look like yet. She’s sure they’ll be pretty, as all women are beautiful after all, but she's curious! Plus, her gaydar doesn't have much to work with without seeing their faces.

2. That leads her onto problem two, which is that she has no idea if either of them like girls. She knows it’s a bit presumptuous to even be thinking like that, but if either of them had a profile picture that was, like, Definite Straight Girl Energy, it would help her out a lot with getting over them. 

3. Isn’t it kind of weird that she has crushes on people she doesn’t know the appearance of? Zoey herself thinks it’s chill, she’s been on the Internet long enough, but it’s definitely the kind of thing people back at school would judge her for. She’s been trying to ignore what people from her school would think, especially since blessedly leaving said school a few months ago, but thoughts like that still creep in at night, when she feels most insecure.

4. She likes both of them. At once. An equal amount. This also qualifies as a ‘weird thing’ by her old school’s standards, but Zoey is more confident about this than the whole lack of pictures thing. She knows what polyamory is! However, the chances of Rumi and Mira not only being sapphic but also liking her back and also chill with the idea of polyamory are admittedly looking pretty slim. She’s an idealist, not completely detached from reality.

So, yeah, long story short, Zoey should probably get over this in the next three weeks before she meets them for real and causes a million problems in their otherwise already lovely flat.

However, Mira and Rumi are not making that easy. At all.

Zoey: todays minimum wage job fit!!!
[image.jpg]

Rumi: Woah you look very cool
Which job is it again?

Zoey: the bookstore!! better of the two by FAR
i kinda hope i can get a similar job over in korea

Rumi: You probably will be able to! You could even see if you’re able to help out at the uni library or something

Mira: Unless its for free. Dont be giving them any of your time for free

Zoey: if it was the library id be tempted!!
but yeah ill be on hunt for jobs the minute i land
are you guys gonna get one?

Rumi: Maybe? I haven’t really thought about it much. I think I wanna settle in first

Mira: I'll probably be able to keep my current job tbh its only at weekends so should be okay to continue

Zoey: you have a job too?? did i miss you saying so before???

Mira: Nah, I think I just havent mentioned it yet
I teach ballet to kids on Saturdays

Zoey actually puts her phone face down on her bed to have a mini gay freakout. She needs to leave for work in a few minutes, but god, that is so cute. Mira teaches ballet! To kids!! How is she supposed to get over this crush???

When she recovers, she picks up her phone to try and sound normal in her reply.

Zoey: thats so sweet!! and definitely fits with your degree

Rumi: You both have pretty fitting jobs, actually!

Mira: Yeah its fun teaching them. Theyre all so happy and all that shit with no idea whats coming later in life

Zoey: yeah i love working with kids!! the ones at the bookstore are mostly cute
mostly

Mira: Oh yeah theres a right few little shits in there.
But I always blame the parents
I wasnt exactly an angelic child myself so i wont judge

Rumi: Haha yeah fair enough
I was unfortunately that kid who cried whenever someone told me off

Zoey: yknow what same
anyway!! got to actually go to my job now
but i will chat to you both later

Rumi: Yes go get that money!! We’ll miss you <3

Zoey’s shift is by and large spent trying to focus on selling all of the shop’s summer beach reads before summer is actually over instead of that little heart emoji from Rumi. She fails. Big time. In her defence, she did give it a go!

It just might be a lost cause, at this point.

She thinks about them both the entire way home, sun still bright in the mid-afternoon sky. She thinks about how they were messaging her earlier despite the fact that she knows full well it was late at night in Seoul. She thinks about the way they all already talk to each other so easily, despite the short amount of time the group chat has existed for. She thinks about the way they both text with auto caps on, so similarly fancy, and yet also different in other ways.

There is a moment of self-reflection about how she’s down so bad she’s being gay about texting patterns, but she doesn’t care. It’s no less weird than everything else about crushing on them.

When Zoey gets home and has a moment to properly check her phone, she almost drops it when she opens the group chat.

It’s now Saturday morning in Korea. As she recently learned, it’s time for Mira’s shift. And while she was stocking books, Mira messaged the groupchat with a selfie.

Mira: [image.jpg]
My own minimum wage fit.

The picture is strikingly similar to her KakaoTalk profile picture. Face obscured, but the rest of her body on show in the mirror. Long striking legs. Defined abs underneath her crop top.

Oh god, Zoey is doomed.

She has to actually run up the stairs to her room to deal with the heart attack she thinks she might be having. The message was sent a couple hours ago, meaning Mira will still be at work. She has time to strategise. Even if she’s not sure what exactly she is strategising.

Below Mira’s message, Rumi has replied.

Rumi: You look nice!! Have fun at work!

Zoey half-laughs, half-frowns at Rumi’s message, shaking her head. The picture Mira had sent… it wasn’t the kind you sent expecting just a reaction of ‘you look nice’. It was, frankly speaking, a bit of a thirst trap.

But as she hovers above her keyboard to reply, she gets in her own head. What should she even say? Yeah, maybe it’s a bit of a sexy picture, but surely she only thinks that because of her own overwhelming feelings? Rumi probably glanced at it for about two seconds before sending her message.

Because Rumi doesn’t like Mira. Probably doesn’t like girls, full stop.

…There’s a fifth point, on her list of Reasons Why She Really Shouldn’t Be Falling For Rumi and Mira. One she doesn’t want to acknowledge, but it now swirls around her mind as she stares at her phone.

5. Not only does she not know if either of them like girls, it’s pretty likely that they’ll be weirded out by the fact that Zoey does. Plenty of people at school were, and what reason does she have to think uni will be any different? 

If Zoey doesn’t get a handle on her crushes soon, it’s going to leak into every interaction she has with them both when she moves in. They’re eventually going to question things and she’ll probably tell them the truth, hoping it won’t go too wrong.

And it probably won’t go horribly wrong. Rumi and Mira seem like nice people. Not intolerant. But any girl would be weirded out by the knowledge that their flatmate has been harbouring a secret crush on them for weeks, right? They’d pull back, start to hesitate when talking to her. And Zoey, not wanting to cause more distress, would match that energy. Every interaction with them would be forever changed.

She may not know Mira and Rumi all that well yet, but she's already certain that drifting away from them is the last thing she wants.

So to avoid that, she needs to get rid of these feelings. And fast. The day of her flight feels like it’s zooming towards her, terribly ominous and exciting all at the same time.

Before then, she needs to hatch a plan to make sure her brain finally pays attention to the List, and put said plan into action. 

Otherwise, she’ll lose Rumi and Mira before they’re even properly in her life.

Chapter Text

The first thing Mira does after finishing her shift at the ballet studio is check her phone.

Before the group chat, she was the kind of person who took pride in just how little time she spent on her phone. Present, unplugged, in the real world, all that shit. She preferred simply running off somewhere in the city whenever she needed an escape from her parents, instead of spending all day in her room on her phone, still in the same house as them.

However, since meeting Rumi and Zoey (virtually), everything's changed. Barely two minutes after waving off her twenty tiny students to their parents and finishing a conversation with Yuna, her boss who teaches the class with her, Mira's phone is out and she is anxiously zooming straight to KakaoTalk.

There's only one message waiting for her on the group chat, sent by Rumi. And when she reads it, it puts a weird feeling of disappointment in her stomach.

But why the fuck is she disappointed? Rumi said she looked nice. Zoey said nothing, but she's probably still working.

(She doesn't dwell on the fact that she no longer needs her phone's world clock app to tell her that it's already evening in California, and Zoey will definitely be done with her afternoon shift by now.)

She picks up her bag, lets her hair out of its bun and gives a curt goodbye to Yuna as she makes to leave the building proper, chewing on her lip. However, Yuna stops her.

"Do you fancy lunch together? I don't have anything on till three."

Mira takes a moment to think about it. On the one hand, she's in a bad mood and doesn't want to put that onto her boss, who she genuinely likes. On the other hand, some company probably wouldn't hurt right now.

"Sure," Mira says. "Our usual place?"

Despite taking up the offer, Mira's still sullen and silent as she and Yuna take the metro together. Luckily, it's busy enough with the weekend lunchtime rush that Yuna wouldn't try to make conversation with her anyway and doesn't take her silence as weird. Mira just keeps stewing in her thoughts, trying to mentally expel the funk in her brain so she can actually enjoy lunch with her boss.

What kind of response did she even expect? The picture had been an impulse decision, fuelled by Zoey's unfairly adorable mirror selfie of her own she'd sent before Mira had gone to bed. When she'd woken up, it was one of the first things on her mind and as she changed into her dance clothes the idea wouldn't leave her alone. Let it be known that she is at her most confident and gayest at 8 o' clock in the morning, apparently.

Now, however, she is full of regret. It was a stupid idea. Why the fuck is she sending the kind of picture she'd normally reserve for girls she's flirting with to her future flatmates? Well, she knows the reason, the initial motivation (being a lesbian), but she can't understand what she ever thought she'd get out of it. Rumi thinks she looks nice. Zoey thinks nothing at all. Probably because they're both straight and really don't care as much about her abs as she wants them to.

Despite knowing it's illogical, she remains in a bad mood as she and Yuna get closer to their stop. Mostly, she feels a little stupid. And disappointed. And stupid for being disappointed.

One thought that cuts through her spiral is that perhaps if she actually showed her face, she might have gotten more of a reaction. But her hesitancy to do that remains. There aren't many public pictures of her, not nearly as many as there are of her parents, but there are enough. And having only recently escaped being her parents' little toy they like to dress up and parade around at whatever events they attend, she can't shake the mental scenario of sending her first selfie with her face in it to the group chat, Zoey and/or Rumi recognising her, and then…

And then what? It's pretty vain to think that they'll give a shit about the fact that she's some rich 'daughter of two CEOs' kid. It likely won't change anything, and Mira will have that conversation with them when she moves in. She doesn't want it to be a secret by then.

But in real life, all she's ever been is the daughter of two CEOs.

She wants to keep pretending. Just a little longer.

They get off the metro in a district even further away from her house than work, to Mira's delight. It's one of the reasons she loves the place they're going to, besides the excellent tteokbokki. Yuna first took her in Mira's third week of teaching ballet, able to see from a mile off that Mira didn't fancy going home immediately after her shift. Mira had been going to grab lunch and kill time in the city by herself after her first two shifts anyway, so she had gladly accepted the offer.

Now, going to get lunch together is something of an after-work tradition. Yuna doesn't ask every week - she's busy as hell, and knows Mira also sometimes needs space. But they go at least monthly, and it's one of the biggest factors in why Mira's grateful she gets to keep this job even once she goes to uni.

Yuna is sort of Mira's favourite adult ever. She doesn't tell her this because she doesn't think Yuna would like the responsibility of knowing that, but it's true. She's one of those people who's effortlessly cool but also caring, which is all Mira's basically ever wanted to be. Yuna has looked out for Mira ever since she started at the studio. She knows all about Mira's parents, knows exactly why a girl with the money to buy almost anything she wanted was so desperate for to work for her at barely above the minimum wage. She doesn't press it unless Mira brings it up first, though, which Mira appreciates. She's vented about her parents at this tteokbokki place countless times, but equally spent ages just chatting about dance or comparing favourite movies or the latest idol gossip or Yuna's uni stories and so on.

Today, though, she hasn't quite managed to dispel her bad mood by the time they sit down, so Yuna gently presses the issue. "I have to say, you seem a little off. What's going on?"

Mira shrugs, not willing to expose the full embarrassing truth of I really wish these girls who are about to be my flatmates would have appreciated my mild thirst trap more, but also not wanting to lie. She settles for vague. "Just worried about uni stuff, I guess."

"Specifically?"

"I don't know. All of it? If it doesn't work out, I'm kinda screwed."

"You're not screwed," Yuna says firmly. "And it might take a while for you to settle in, so I don't want you appearing at my studio on the first Saturday since moving in telling me it's not for you. It will work out, Mira."

"You can't guarantee that," Mira says, but she's already smiling a little.

"I can guarantee it'll be tough and a little scary, but I can also guarantee you're strong enough to handle it all," Yuna says. "You won't end up needing to go back to your parents, if that's what you're worried about."

It is. Beyond the thirst trap incident, Mira is a little desperate for Rumi and Zoey to like her (and for uni to go well in general) so she doesn't need to end up running back home with her tail between her legs. The last thing she wants is to pick between spending her weekends in an awkward flat where the people she's living with hate her, or going home to parents who hate her.

"I hope so," Mira says. "I don't know why I'm so stressed all of a sudden. Though I guess it's coming up pretty soon."

"Three weeks," Yuna unhelpfully reminds her. "Did you take up my advice?"

"Which advice?" Mira asks. "The 'don't do drugs' bit, or telling me to find people I'm going to uni with online?"

"Hey, I didn't say no to all drugs. A little weed won't kill you," Yuna says. "But that's general life advice. I meant the second one."

"I did, actually," Mira tells her. "I somehow managed to find my flatmates."

"Really? Wow!" Yuna says. "I thought you'd end up tracking down people from your course, but this is better. Nothing beats getting to bond with your flatmates early. Have you discussed a cleaning rota yet?"

"Ugh, no, I don't want to have that conversation before we move in," Mira says. "I'm not trying to be branded as a killjoy when we haven't even seen each other in person yet."

"Alright, fair. All I'm saying is that you do not want to leave that conversation too long once you are moved in," Yuna laughs. "But you have been chatting to them, then?"

"Yeah, quite a lot," Mira replies. "They seem nice. Easy to get along with. One of them's coming all the way from America, too, which is kind of bonkers."

"Woah, that is a cool one. She'll probably have all manner of horrible snacks she insists you need to try," Yuna grins at her, before adding: "I actually told Celine's daughter to do the same thing with finding people on social media, y'know? A while ago, when I last saw them both. Her daughter's the same age as you, took a year out before starting uni too. I think she could potentially be a bit overwhelmed by the whole experience, to be honest, because of how far out she and Celine live, so I hope she's also found some friends early."

"Do you know if she has?" Mira asks.

Yuna shakes her head. "I haven't seen Celine since then. Ugh! I need a catch-up with her, but I do not want to travel that far out of Seoul anytime soon. Maybe I'll get her to come into the city next time. But I digress. I'm glad that you've found your flatmates and that they're nice. Seems like uni won't be anything to worry about then, will it?"

"Hopefully not," Mira says, before sighing. Now they're close enough to the topic of what's actually bothering her, she may as well be a little more honest with Yuna. "I just hope they don't get all weird about me when they find out who I actually am."

Yuna gives her a soft look. "Mira, with all the love in the world, you're not actually famous. They probably won't care about who your parents are. Real friends won't. You've got a good feeling about these girls you'll be living with?"

Mira nods. "Yeah. I mean, early days, but they seem like good people."

"Then why worry?" Yuna asks. "Plus, you never know, they could be rich too. Then you can just all go on expensive shopping trips together."

Mira laughs, a little tension easing out of her shoulders. "Truly the dream."

The rest of lunch is pleasant. As the conversation moves through several topics, Mira finds herself forgetting about the stupid selfie she sent, stops worrying about the various possibilities where living with Zoey and Rumi doesn't work out the way she wants it to.

Yuna is right. There's no need to stress about uni before it's even started.

That doesn't stop her heart from beating a little faster when she's walking back to the metro station after parting ways with Yuna and she sees that Zoey has sent two new messages on their group chat.

Zoey: WOAH mira
respectfully, you look fine as hell

Unexpectedly, Mira finds herself cackling with laughter, even as butterflies erupt in her stomach. That's more what she was hoping for. Perhaps her past self wasn't so stupid after all.

Mira: After what you sent earlier? Thats a big compliment.

Alright, sure, they're doing a little flirting on the group chat now. Why not? It might ruin things between them all in the long term, but so could the girls knowing who Mira's parents are, so could Mira accidentally saying something too blunt that it dips into hurtful, so could an argument about the fucking cleaning rota. She just doesn't know. There's no point in stressing out.

Plus, Zoey might not even see it as flirting, which would be disappointing, but not a big deal. However, Mira has a sneaking suspicion as to why Zoey took so long to respond, and she hopes she's right.

That suspicion gains some merit when Zoey's next reply comes in.

Zoey: ooooh stop it you ;)

Mira is a simple woman. A well-placed winky face can, and will, get her good.

However, it's Rumi's message immediately after that almost makes her fall over.

Rumi: Oh we're allowed to say that??
You both looked fine as hell, in that case

Now feeling like the one too flustered to respond, Mira just tucks her phone into her pocket and heads down to the metro, figuring the journey will give her time to work out how to respond to the girls she is caring about more and more by the day.

Maybe she is screwed. But in a fun, vaguely homosexual way, as opposed to a terrifying way.

And that's no bad thing at all.

Chapter Text

A couple of weeks before move-in day, Celine takes Rumi shopping.

Rumi has a surprising amount of what she needs for uni already. They got new bedding a while ago, and Rumi also picked out a few new clothes, otherwise satisfied with her current wardrobe. She hadn't wanted to ask for anything, what with her going to university being so delicate a topic anyway, but Celine had insisted.

"You can't have all of my hand-me-downs for uni," she had told Rumi after buying the bedding. "Or only bring what you already have. You have to get some new things. It's all part of the experience."

Celine doesn't talk much about her own uni days, with good reason. University is where she met Rumi's mother, and Rumi knows the whole experience is now tangled with the grief that came later, a grief Celine has… never particularly tried to untangle.

From what Rumi can gather, though, Celine and her mother and the rest of their friends had a good time. Now it is Rumi's turn, Celine seems to think that if Rumi insists on going to uni, she may as well do everything in her power to pass on the highlights of her own experience, even if she disagrees with her going in the first place.

So Rumi tries to not feel too guilty when she looks at the price tags on the clothes Celine buys her, or sees the slight frown on Celine's face as she picks out her bedding. And today, as they drive down to a store that sells all sorts of kitchen utensils, she also tries to brush aside the sinking feeling in her stomach that she's just burdening Celine even more than she already does.

Texting the others helps. Zoey and Mira have quickly become more than friends to her - not like that, despite the type of messages they sometimes send to each other. They've become her main support system as move-in day draws nearer, as Celine grows more closed off even as she ticks off Rumi's uni shopping checklist, as Rumi starts to wonder if maybe Celine was right about it being too risky to go to uni.

Every day when Rumi wakes up, Zoey, already in the middle of her day, sends an enthusiastic good morning text, asking what she (and Mira) will be getting up to today. They both always care about what Rumi's response is, even though her days are, quite frankly, a little repetitive and boring. Tending to her plants. Practising singing. Cooking for her and Celine. Sleeping. And repeat.

But Zoey asks what songs she's been learning recently, and Mira has an unexpected number of questions about her plants, and Rumi responds to all their questions, heart full.

And it continues like that all day, right up until Rumi goes to bed. Zoey and Mira bickering over some random debate while she eats her lunch. Zoey sending a selfie or a fit check when Rumi finishes up her afternoon vocal practice. Her and Mira having solo chats in the evening about whatever topics they fancy, Zoey joining them if she's being a very irresponsible sleeper.

Not that she and Mira aren't equally guilty of that, having both stayed up into the small hours just to catch Zoey during her mornings. The timezone difference works out enough that if they all went to bed when they should, they'd have about eight hours of time in the day when they are all awake. But that's not nearly enough. Not when both Zoey and Mira work, and Rumi dedicates several hours of her day to either spending time with Celine or working on her voice to prepare for uni.

Not when they are all slightly obsessed with each other.

So as Celine drives them to the store, Rumi - as she has been every day recently - is rather glued to her phone. She should probably be more careful. Celine does not know about the existence of Mira and Zoey, and Rumi intends to keep it that way. She has no idea how that will work on move-in day when Zoey will probably run to tackle hug her right in front of Celine, but she'll think about it more closer to the time.

She knows that if Celine knew she's gone behind her back to make friends with fellow incoming SNU students online, it would just cause another argument. And Rumi is so, so tired of arguing with Celine about this. However, Celine also knows very well that Rumi does not have close friends, and any excess texting is deeply suspicious.

Yet Rumi cannot stop herself, even as she catches Celine's eyes flick to her in the passenger seat a couple of times during the drive.

Mira: Anyone else finding packing a massive pain?

Rumi: Haha, we're LITERALLY on the way to get my kitchen stuff rn
Is it bad I haven't properly started packing? I just have piles in my room

Mira: I think im just quite desperate to move out.
But speaking of cooking, I cant believe we havent talked about it yet. How is everyone with it?
Are you guys gonna be making beautiful homemade meals or is it a pot noodles and pray kind of thing

Rumi: I cook a lot for my mom and I so not to flex but…

Mira: Oh right of course you do. Cant believe I forgot that
I also kinda like cooking. Its relaxing. Not that good at it though as my family dont like it when I cook for them

Rumi: Really? Why not??

There's a slight pause before Mira's reply, her typing icon appearing and disappearing a couple of times.

Mira: Well, like I said. Not that good at it.

Rumi frowns, wondering if that is the full truth. However, before she can think on it any longer, Zoey appears.

Zoey: uhhhh ill probably be team pot noodle and pray
but i wanna get good at cooking!!
gonna buy all my cooking stuff once im there though as its less to bring. maybe you guys can give me recommendations??

Mira: Girl this is uni cooking. Just buy a couple pans and some bowls

Zoey: nuh uh!! this is a very exciting chapter in my life and i shall be treating it as such
im gonna get a SPIRALIZER

Mira: You do you babe

Zoey: omg… 'babe'… batting my eyelashes rn

Rumi laughs at the exchange, about to reply, when-

"We're here," Celine says curtly, and Rumi blinks.

So they are. The car's ignition has been switched off as they sit in the car park of the store, and Rumi hadn't even slightly noticed, engrossed in the group chat as she was.

She tucks her phone in her pocket as they enter the store, determind to ignore it and focus on spending quality time with Celine. After all, she's moving all the way to Seoul in less than three weeks. Mira and Zoey will still be there to talk to later.

However, as Celine gets a basket and they start moving towards kitchen items, Rumi's phone buzzes incessantly in her pocket. Like she said, she doesn't really have any other friends, therefore, the only thing the notifications could be is the other two continuing their conversation.

She should just silence her phone, but… she doesn't want to.

They grab a big wok first, a similar size to the one they use at home. Celine asks for Rumi's opinion, but Rumi doesn't have much of one, as long as it works. She feels like she should care more, but her brain is still full of Zoey and Mira. Then, they get her a saucepan, two chopping boards, a rice cooker, enough utensils and bowls to feed four people, and wooden spoons for stirring.

Celine leads the way, and Rumi follows most of her suggestions without questioning them, distracted. She enjoys cooking a lot. It might be her favourite thing Celine has passed on her love for, other than singing. Celine's taught her countless interesting recipes since she was around eleven and wanted to properly learn instead of just helping with chopping vegetables. Using all of those recipes and trying out some new ones of her own is one of the things she's been most excited about doing at uni.

Yet, on the day they are buying things for her new kitchen, all she thinks about is her two future flatmates.

She's still careful about texting them, not wanting Celine to spot her doing so. But every time Celine turns her back to look closer at the pans on the shelves, or the variety of chopping boards, she pulls out her phone and fires off a quick reply to the current conversation.

Mira: I personally would kill for tteokbokki. My boss has this one place she takes me all the time, its great

Zoey: your boss takes you to get tteokbokki?? she sounds like a real one

Mira: Yeah, she kinda is.

Rumi: Well I also love tteokbokki! I can make it for you guys when we move in

Mira: I could kiss you if you do that, Rumi

That last message has her tucking her phone back into her pocket quickly before Celine even notices she's been texting again, trying to ignore the fluttering of her heart.

Eventually, they have everything they need and head to the check out. Rumi looks at all the kitchen items as she unloads them onto the conveyer belt with Celine. There's a lot. Not even wanting to think about how much it'll come to, she looks at her guardian and smiles. Celine's never been much of a hugger since Rumi has been older than, like, eight, but Rumi hopes the gratitude still shines through in her eyes.

"Thank you, for all of this."

Celine shrugs, but returns Rumi's smile. "Of course. Are you sure you don't want anything else?"

"I'm good," Rumi says. "This is more than enough."

The bags of kitchenware are heavy, but easy enough to take to the car between the two of them. When they're loaded into the back, Celine heads to get into the car. Rumi hesitates a moment, before taking a quick selfie of herself in front of the bags packed in the back.

Before she can second guess herself, she sends it to the group chat with the caption: Uni kitchen ready!!

The minute she puts it in her pocket, she immediately starts feeling her phone vibrate.

She gets in the front seat, bouncing with nervous energy. What if they don't like the picture? What if they're laughing? No, they wouldn't. But her patterns definitely aren't showing, right? Right?

She quickly opens their group chat just to double check. Within a second, a smile finds its way onto her face without her permission.

Zoey: RUMI
WHAT THE FUCK
OH MY GOD
ON A RANDOM ASS TUESDAY???? YOU ATTACK ME LIKE THIS???
YOU ARE SO PRETTY OMG
WHY DIDNT YOU SEND A SELFIE BEFORE

Rumi: I don't know!! Online danger I guess, but I've trusted you guys since like day 2
I just didn't know when would be a good time

Zoey: right now. right now is a GREAT time
ur genuinely gorgoes what the fuck
gorgeos
gorgeus
fuck it you look gorjus. you know what i mean.

"That's not a boy you're texting, is it?" Celine asks casually, as they pull out of the car park.

"No!" Rumi exclaims, mildly horrified. Not at the concept of talking to a boy - some of them are cute - but the fact that that's what Celine has been theorising she's been doing. Her cheeks flush with unexpected embarrassment.

Celine merely raises her eyebrows. "Alright. Message received."

She doesn't press the topic further, or ask who she is actually texting, and Rumi breathes a huge sigh of relief. After a tiny pause, she pulls out her phone again.

Mira: Gorgeous, Zoey.
Which is what you both are.
Btw Rumi - please teach me how to dye your hair that well when we move in.

Rumi bites her lip. Despite how much affection she holds for Mira and Zoey, she's still not sure how well 'My hair is natural, because I'm half-demon' will go down.

Rumi: Haha for sure I will!
Is yours dyed?

Mira: Wanna find out?

Zoey: mira. OMG. you better be implying what i think you are
send that picture NEOW

Mira: Well, if you insist.
[image.jpg]

Staring down at the picture Mira's sent, Rumi suddenly understands Zoey's outburst at her own selfie two minutes ago on an intrinsic level.

Mira is also gorgeous. And pretty. And kinda hot. And she just… seems like a really lovely person, from the vibe of the picture.

And alright, it's vain to base that on looks, but everything about Mira just screams warm. She has dyed pink hair that suits her massively and gold-rimmed glasses that… also suit her massively, framing her chestnut eyes. She's wearing a little smirk, but Rumi has to drag her eyes away from her lips lest she end up fainting right here, sat down in Celine's car.

Mira: Did I kill you both?

Zoey: yep

Rumi: 100%

Mira: Good.
Can't wait to move in with you two😘

After that message, Rumi doesn't check her phone for the entire rest of the car journey, too focused on how her heart beats at a frantic pace in her chest as she grins out of the window.

And from the driver's seat, Celine's eyes keep flicking to her and the phone face-down in her lap. Watching. Wondering.

Chapter Text

"My favourite book? Um, I dunno, I haven't read a lot since I was a kid… I used to love reading though. Ooh! You know which book is great? Little Women. And I'm dead serious. You might think I'm crazy cause it was written forever ago, but trust me. Trust me. The drama is so good. Plus, then you get to watch the Greta Gerwig movie, which is always a win, so… Yeah, of course I like Greta Gerwig! I'm gay and a nerd! Who commented that?"

It's a Saturday evening, and as she has for months now, Zoey is livestreaming to all of her followers on TikTok. She started her account just after she got her acceptance to SNU, and a lot of her content has been focused on that, but as her follower count has risen, she's been able to branch out. Her other videos about stuff like skateboarding, comparing living in Seoul as a kid to her time in Burbank now, and even her many rambles about turtles and other sea life have proved successful enough. Now she can get a couple of hundred people tuning into one of her livestreams, if not more, and she makes a tiny bit of extra money from the whole thing too. It's not bad at all.

Today is a chill one. The day of her flight is now only a week and a half away, so she's been fielding a lot of questions on how she feels about that as she does her makeup routine and shows off her many turtle plushies ("how am I supposed to pick which ones to bring? Seriously, guys. How.").

Still, though, as she talks about her imminently approaching time at uni, her thoughts wander. Every time she thinks about SNU, she inevitably also thinks about Rumi and Mira. And while she would like nothing more than to gush about them on stream to her many followers, she equally likes having them just to herself. Also, they probably wouldn't want her talking about them without their permission, so she'll refrain. For now.

"Do you listen to Chappell Roan?" Zoey reads out from the chat. She snorts. "Come on. No stupid questions. You know the girl who threw the lesbian flag onto the stage at her concert when she last came to LA? Yep, that was me. I swear."

The chat livens up, asking her more and more questions about which artists she listens to. "Guys, honestly, if they're gay and decently successful, they're on my Spotify," she promises. "Laufey? Yep. Mitski? Oh, she got me through being the entire ordeal of being fifteen and depressed with no friends. What a legend. Twice? Oh my god, love Twice. I really hope I run into them when I'm in Seoul and, you know, they all suddenly agree to marry me on the spot. Bias? Jeongyeon! She's my girl!"

The chat settles down after a while, until she notices an interesting question. "Thoughts on the new F/GHTRESS comeback? Hmm. Good one. I'll be real with you - like everyone else, I'm really… not that impressed? Like, it's so different to their old stuff! I loved their first album." She sighs. "But they're the ones protecting the Honmoon, so of course I'm still streaming. Yes, I am totally on that side of the debate - we gotta support their music, guys! I am not trying to be eaten by a demon!"

The chat then descends into a debate about F/GHTRESS, and Zoey is about to weigh in more, when she sees something way more exciting.

rrrrrrumi: Hey Zoey!

Zoey lets out an excited little squeak that she tries to keep as nonchalant as possible. She's not entirely sure she succeeds, but if Rumi notices it, she doesn't mind. She wonders how long Rumi's been watching. Did she hear Zoey talking about being gay? It's quite possible she very much did; Zoey doesn't recall seeing the notification that she joined at all. She's probably been here for a while.

Oh well. Even with move-in day so close, Zoey still isn't quite sure what's going on between them all. Ever since Rumi and Mira finally sent pictures of their utterly gorgeous faces, they've all been kind of flirting with each other? Probably? Zoey would definitely call it flirting, but she has no idea what the other two think.

Her plan to get over them lingers in the back of her mind, still, but it's less of a plan and more of a reoccuring anxious thought. Now, whenever any of them send a selfie, or share a random fact about themselves, it'll be followed up by declarations of how cute they are or how pretty they are from the other two, and how they can't wait to all see each other in real life.

But they haven't actually talked about any topic even close to the question of 'do you like girls?'. Zoey's open about it and always has been on her social media accounts. She's never really known how to do it any other way, even when she got bullied at school for it (amongst a lot of other things). Considering Rumi found her through her videos, she might even have been aware of Zoey's sexuality the entire time they've been talking. Which is fine, cool, if only Zoey knew what was going through her head. And Mira's.

It isn't just about potentially being gay. Even with the many conversations they've had since adding each other on KakaoTalk, the three of them haven't really gotten into deep stuff, full stop. Which is totally okay! In fact, it'd probably be weird if they had, even if they do talk a lot. Zoey's not exactly desperate to get into all of her traumas over text, unwilling to feel like she's annoying Rumi and Mira, and she assumes they feel the same.

However, even if it makes her sound crazy, she does feel like she can trust them already. She wants to be that open with them one day, and know them just as well back.

And she also wants to know if they like girls, of course. She's only human. Though based on Mira's whole… vibe, she'd be willing to make an informed guess. Rumi is a little more of an enigma, but Zoey remains hopeful.

She reads the chat again. "Thing you're most excited for about moving in? Oh, definitely meeting my flatmates. I've just got a feeling we're all gonna click really well."

When she next glances at the chat, she sees something that makes her entire chest blossom with warmth.

rrrrrrumi: Haha I've got the same feeling! <3

After saying goodbye to her followers and turning off the stream, Zoey goes to have her evening shower. Her dad calls up the stairs to ask if she wants to watch TV with him, and Zoey replies that she will in a minute.

Once she's out of the shower, though, a notification on her phone distracts her.

It's Rumi. But not on their group chat; instead, Zoey opens her phone to their private message thread, untouched since the creation of said group chat.

Rumi: Hey
I just wanted to say and I'm sorry if this is overreaching… but on your stream you joked about being depressed with no friends when you said you listened to Mitski
I don't know how serious that was, but if it was serious then you can always talk to me. If you want. Up to you
Whether over text or when we move in
I'm here for you! I've also never really had many friends my age so you guys are quite important to me
If you were actually joking this is a bit embarrassing haha whoops you can ignore this

Zoey takes a sharp breath in, unexpected tears pricking at her eyes. She only takes a moment before frantically typing out her reply.

Zoey: awww rumi 🥺❤️
dont stress yourself out i WAS being serious
highschool sucked
that can never be emphasised enough
but im doing a lot better now!!
i dont have to talk to the people who bullied me anymore
i even got a therapist
lowk its fun as fuck they dont tell you that therapy is kinda goated if ur therapist is good
and mine is!!! she hears ALL the tea
i told her ab u guys

Rumi: Aww, really?
I don't have a therapist to tell about you and Mira, but if I did, I would

Zoey: thats the most romantic shit anyones ever said to me someone hold me

Rumi: Bit difficult to hold you when you're in America

Zoey: DONT remind me.
but seriously
thank you
all that means a lot
i havent really opened up on the gc cause i didnt wanna burden you guys and shit but i make a load of jokes about my mental health anyway lol
i forget i do that on stream

Rumi: Hey, it's not a terrible coping mechanism
Probably better than the shit my mom has going on where she claims she has 'never even heard of depression' despite being the most depressed person I've ever met

Zoey: thats just a parental classic
my mom's had three separate coworkers AND me tell her she has adhd
she still. will not believe it. like bitch where you think i got it from!!
bless your mom though

Rumi: Haha why are they all the same
You're not a burden to us, Zoey. I'm sure Mira would agree.
If you ever need anything, I'm here as much as I can be. And I'll be much more help once we. You know. Actually LIVE together

Zoey: god i cannot wait
thank you again pookie pie
wait i just got the best idea hold on

Tongue sticking out of her mouth in concentration, Zoey navigates back to the group chat they share with Mira. During her and Rumi's heart to heart, Mira had sent an excellent TikTok of a cat being confused by its own reflection, which Zoey immediately sents a heart sticker in reaction to.

Then, she types out a new message.

Zoey: random loredrop time ill go first
i have adhd bigstyle and probably autism too but i keep getting doctors who cannot spot autism in girls if their life depended on it
it kinda sucks sometimes but also sometimes i sit down to write and come back to life with a 5k short story written within like 2 hours so whos winning
anyway what about you guys
(you dont have to share anything if you dont want to i just felt like it)

For a moment, Rumi and Mira say nothing. Their icons don't even appear as currently typing, and sudden, sharp anxiety twsits at Zoey's stomach. This was a horrible idea. All she'd wanted to do was involve Mira in the tender conversation she and Rumi were having without explicitly saying 'Me and Rumi just told each other some really deep shit in DMs without you', but asking them both to randomly share personal stories on the group chat? It's a stupid idea. They're probably both so uncomfo-

Mira: I'm going to uni pretty much to escape my parents because they treat me like shit. And I'm sick of that.
This is also why I'm moving into halls in the first place despite living in Seoul. P.S. please don't judge a girl for being rich I KNOW I could easily commute

Zoey: oh mira :(

Rumi: I'm sorry that sucks :( and I'm not gonna judge you for anything dw

Zoey: well unless you wear socks with sandals or something idk

Mira: I'm actually quite offended you would even suggest id do that

Zoey: IM SORRRYYYY
wait are you like offended for real

Mira: Course not. Don't worry
Its annoying to try and work out tone over text, I know. I'll make it clearer next time

Zoey: #myautism
anyway yeah. im sorry you have to deal with that mira. i hope living in halls turns out to be lovely for you

Mira: Bitch me too

Rumi: Is it my turn now?

Zoey: only if youre comfortable!!

Rumi: Yeah, I mean. This is something I've considered mentioning since like day 1 of the groupchat, but I thought it would be awkward, so I didn't… I don't mind sharing it now!
Plus it definitely qualifies as 'lore'.
Anyway my mom… isn't my biological mom. Both my parents died when I was little. I barely remember them.
My 'mom' as in who ive been referring to on this groupchat is kinda more like an aunt to me I guess? She was my mom's best friend before she died. But I call her by her first name and stuff. I think she'd be too sad if I actually called her Mom
Haha that's all really depressing I'm sorry but tbh I don't really have any memory of this. Sometimes I almost wonder if I should be more upset about it all. Celine - thats the name of my non bio mom - is really torn up about my bio mom's death, and I kinda wish I could share her grief whenever I see her like that.
Shit sorry that was quite deep
I made it go from ADHD to mommy issues

Mira: Hey, don't worry. I Definitely initiated the mommy issues segment.

Rumi: Ok point

Zoey: i mean my parents are divorced so… let's have mommy issues together #slay

Mira: Is that a #slay?

Zoey: anything is a #slay if you believe

Rumi: What are you guys talking about

Mira: Frankly I am not entirely sure
But Rumi. I'm glad you felt like you could share all that with us. We're here to listen ok?
For what it's worth, I think its pretty normal to feel guilty about not grieving a person as much as other people are.
I kinda felt like that when my grandpa died and everyone in my family was soooo upset. Despite knowing he was an asshole just like my parents, I still felt a bit guilty when I saw my brother being sad while I was borderline planning what dance I was gonna do on the casket

Zoey: did you end up dancing on it?

Mira: Girl I only said my parents treat me like shit. Not that they've already attempted to murder me
If I'd tried THAT I wouldn't be alive texting you all rn

Zoey: LMFAOOOO true

Mira: Also weirdly enough I know someone called Celine too
It's a cool name
Pretty unique though

Rumi: Yeah it is!!
Mad coincedence haha
I might tell Celine that she'll probably be happy.
Or, like, randomly jealous of this other Celine

Zoey: its a PRETTY name is what it is
heyy rumi what does she look like… is she ready to overcome the demons of her past Yet… if you catch my drift wink wink

Mira: Zoey NO

Rumi doesn't message the group chat for almost a solid minute, and if Zoey thought she'd been anxious when she and Mira weren't typing before, it pales in comparison to how she feels now. Why did I say that why did I say that why did I say that oh my GOD-

Rumi: HAHAHAHAHAHAH
Sorry but I had to put my phone down to cackle at that out loud
But I don't think I can pass on that message to her Zoey, I'm afraid

Oh thank god.

Zoey: its ok… was just putting some feelers out… the suggestion Remains though

Mira: Did you start this conversation just to hit on Rumi's adoptive (presumably hot MILF) mother

Zoey: literally no do you think im fucking telepathic??
there is a silver lining in every cloud though <3

Mira: Zoey?

Zoey: yeah?

Mira: Go to bed

Zoey: ITS ONLY 10PM

Mira: Then go to time out idk

Rumi: I'm still wheezing

Zoey: see rumi understands my epic Comedy. you are just a HATER mira

Mira: Whatever you say.

Zoey: ok but fr i told my dad id watch tv with him 'in a minute' like almost 45 mins ago
hes probably watching golf or some shit but i should go and bless him with my company
ill chat to you both later though!!

Rumi: See you later Zoey!!

Mira: And it better be later. I don't want you pulling up in here at 3am Burbank time

Zoey: yeah you do <3

Mira: …Okay I do but your BODY doesnt want that

Zoey: but my body is tea shell be fine

Mira: Shes only tea if you're NICE to her

Rumi: I back Mira on this one. Get proper rest Zoey!
As much as we love talking to you

Mira: Gay

Rumi: You're gayer

Mira: HEY

Zoey: WOAH LADIES LADIES PLEASE
i will be departing now do not kill each other while im gone

Mira: Oh killing Rumi is not the aim here.

Rumi: 😳

Zoey: on second thougths i might hang around

Rumi: Nooo!! Dont neglect your family for us

Zoey: well im either neglecting my family or my sleep schedule for you two today so you gotta pick one

Mira: …I guess we'll be seeing you at 3am then?

Zoey: i guess you WILL
luv u gay bitches so much

Rumi: <3

Mira: <3

Rumi: Gay

Mira: OH FOR FUCKS SAKE

Closing the group chat is an almost impossible task, but Zoey somehow manages it, and she skips downstairs to her dad with her heart full.

Just a week and a half. That's all she has left to wait until she has them both in person… and the life her depressed, fifteen-year-old self would have killed for can finally begin.

Chapter Text

Mira sits on a bench in her local park, phone clutched in her hand. She spends most of her time outside of her house with her parents in anyway, but today she'd taken a walk with the additional purpose of needing to collect her thoughts.

The tender conversation they'd had on the group chat yesterday hasn't left her mind one bit. Of course, she's honoured that Rumi and Zoey felt like they could share such personal things with her, and shocked at how easy it felt to bare her soul in return.

As sweet as all that is, though, it isn't why the conversation keeps looping in her head, or why she's been taking her phone out every five minutes since to reread it.

She always gets stuck on one certain bit.

Celine.

A coincidence, they'd both said. Wasn't it funny? Rumi's adoptive mom and Mira's boss's closest friend had the same name. A very uncommon name at that, but hey. Stranger things had happened.

Except… the details seemed to line up a little too well.

Even though Yuna had always been willing to listen anytime Mira had needed to vent about her parents, Yuna had never burdened her with her troubles in the same way. Of course she wouldn't, with all the years between them and the fact that Yuna was her boss. Besides, Mira would give horrible advice anyway.

But sometimes, conversations tripped and fell into awkward places, and uncomfortable things had to be mentioned. Such as the fact that Yuna had lost one of her closest friends when she was barely thirty.

With Yuna now in her early fifties, and the easygoing manner in which she talked about uni, Mira had totally assumed she hadn't lost anyone from those days. So when she one day casually asked why Yuna only seemed to meet up with Celine, and not her other best friend from those days, Mi-yeong, she'd expected the answer to be that Mi-yeong lived abroad, or was too busy, or even that they'd just fallen out.

Instead, Yuna had paused mid-way through lifting her chopsticks to her mouth, and set them down. With a wry smile that didn't reach her eyes, she said: "Because she's been dead for fifteen years, sadly."

Mira had felt awful. Forget accidentally tripping into awkward conversation topics - she still blushed whenever she remembered how she'd faceplanted into that one. But Yuna had reassured her that it was fine. That while it was undoubtedly one of the worst things to happen in her life, she tried to hold onto the happy memories of Mi-yeong, as well as the fact that she and Celine had each other as a support system.

And hey. Maybe Mira putting her foot in her mouth all those months ago had had a purpose all along, one only revealed now after months of stewing in self-mortification.

Because now she sits in the park and holds her phone in her hand and thinks about the fact that Rumi's parents had died when she was little. Rumi's adoptive mom - the best friend of her biological one - had lost her best friend when Rumi was little. Considering Rumi is nineteen too, fifteen years ago, when Mi-yeong died, is when Rumi would've been three or four. Definitely in the ball park of little.

And what else had Yuna said about Celine? She had a daughter. Never mentioned said daughter wasn't hers by birth, but that frankly isn't Mira's business. The daughter is Mira's age - had even taken a year out before uni, just like her! And Yuna had given her the same advice she did Mira, to try and find people going to uni with her online before moving in.

No. It's surely got to be too much of a coincidence, right? But the more Mira thinks about it, the more every piece lines up.

Ultimately, it doesn't affect much. Even if Rumi actually is the daughter of the Celine Yuna knows, what are they gonna do about it? Rumi lives ages out of Seoul (just like Yuna's Celine, another coincidence). They barely have a week till they move in. There's no point in trying to meet up early, or anything. Most likely scenario is that if this does all turn out to be true, her and Rumi will get to have one hell of a conversation about it once they move in.

The world really is a small place.

Anyway. There's no point in speculating about all this until Mira gets confirmation, and doing so will be surprisingly easy.

She looks down at her phone in her hand, and presses Call on Yuna's contact.

She picks up within a few rings. "Hey, Mira. Everything okay?"

"Yeah, I'm all good," Mira replies. "If you're busy or anything, it can wait. I just have a really random question."

"Fire away," Yuna replies. "I've just got back from seeing Celine for a very late breakfast, so I'm at home."

Holy shit. Mira is an atheist, but she's now having slight doubts about the way the universe works. "Huh. Funny you mention that - I was gonna ask you something about Celine, actually."

"About Celine?" Mira can hear Yuna's confused frown. "What about her?"

"Er…" Mira realises how out of the blue this all sounds. But she has to commit to it now. "I'm just gonna come out and say it. Is her daughter called Rumi?"

There's silence on the line. Then, slightly incredulous: "Er… yes? Mira, how on Earth do you know that?"

Mira lets out a long breath, leaning back on the bench. "Okay. This is gonna sound crazy, but now you've confirmed that, I'm 99.9% sure that Rumi is one of my flatmates I've been messaging on KakaoTalk."

Another pause on the line. "…Fucking hell, really?"

"Yeah. I've still been talking to her and our other flatmate loads, and yesterday, we had this whole deep chat where Rumi was like 'my mom isn't my biological mom and also the mom I've been referring to is called Celine', as well as a few other things, and I remembered what you said about you and Celine's friend who died. It seemed to line up."

"And I did give Rumi the advice to go and find any potential friends online before uni, too…" Yuna says, her voice tinged with disbelief. "Wow. That is quite the amazing coincidence. Just to check - has Rumi sent any pictures of herself, or anything like that?"

"Purple hair?" Mira replies.

Yuna laughs. "Wow. It is the same person. Rumi's been obsessed with dying her hair purple since she was like, eleven. It's one thing Celine's always been happy to indulge."

"This is crazy," Mira says. "I need to text Rumi about all this. I don't know if she'll even believe me."

"She will once Celine and I rock up to your flat after you guys have moved in and treat you all to a big expensive lunch. Trust me, after a few weeks of student budgeting, you'll want that."

"It's a kind offer, but I'm rich, remember?"

"Oh, of course! In that case, you can pay."

"Ha-ha, funny," Mira says, before sighing. "…Can I ask something personal?"

"Sure."

"So… Rumi is the daughter of your best friend who died, right? How come Celine ended up taking care of her, and not you? I'm not, like, judging. Just genuinely curious."

"Well… it was supposed to be both of us, at first," Yuna begins quietly. "When Mi-yeong died, Celine and I were both at good stages of our lives. We were on our respective career ladders, we had nice apartments. Neither of us knew the first thing about raising a child, but we were financially stable enough to do so between us. I even suggested moving in together as we were both single anyway and we'd be able to split the rent. But Celine was against that idea."

Mira hummed. "Do you know why?"

There's a hesitation on the line before Yuna's response. "…To a degree. I never told you this, but Celine was there when Mi-yeong died. I wasn't."

"…Oh, fuck. That's heavy."

"We both lost our best friend that day, but there is an extra layer to Celine's trauma I will never be able to understand," Yuna continues. "So I wasn't surprised when I noticed that Celine was that bit more protective over Rumi. Offering to have her even on days when I was way less busy than her, giving me a million reminders of what to do when she passed her over to me despite my reassurances, that sort of thing. It would have annoyed me if I didn't know where it was coming from."

Mira just hums, unsure of what to say.

"Also," Yuna says, "it only intensified when my mother got sick when Rumi was about six. All of a sudden, every minute of my life felt like it was being taken up by that, and I couldn't give as much time to taking care of Rumi. Then I met my now husband, too, and before I knew it, Celine and I's lives looked very different. We drifted somewhat, even though I didn't want to admit that was the case. Until one day Celine told me she'd be moving Rumi to a tiny village an hour's train journey outside of Seoul."

"Ah. And that's why Rumi lives in the middle of nowhere?"

"Precisely," Yuna replies. "And before you ask me what her reasoning behind that was, I have no idea. There… there are a lot of complications in mine and Celine's relationship. Despite that, she is still the most important person in my life besides my husband. And I care deeply for Rumi as well, but I know she only sees me as a close friend of her mother's, nothing more. I've made peace with that, even though sometimes I wish… Anyway. I can't believe you're living with her! This is pretty exciting."

There is more Mira wants to ask, such as if Yuna knows why Celine is so against Rumi going to uni, but these are questions she should probably ask Rumi herself. Also, she's made Yuna relive her trauma quite enough for one day.

"It is," Mira replies. "I can't get over how mad this coincidence is."

"Enjoy it!" Yuna replies. "Things like this don't happen every day. I assume you haven't texted her yourself about this yet?"

Mira shakes her head, even though Yuna can't see. "Nah. I thought I'd confirm with you first."

"Makes sense," Yuna says. "Well, listen, I've got to put some lunch on then catch up on emails, but text her, alright? As soon as possible."

"I will," Mira promises, and she means it. Biting her lip, she adds: "Also, Yuna… sorry for making you drag all that up. I get this isn't quite the conversation you want to be having when it's barely mid-afternoon."

On the other end of the line, Yuna lets out a soft chuckle. "Don't worry. It's not the easiest part of my life to talk about, but… there's no point in trying to run away from it either, you know?"

When her and Yuna say their goodbyes, Mira sits on the bench and just thinks for a long while, unmoving. The whole thing messes her up a bit, as good as the coincidence with Rumi is. Even if it might be irrational, she can't stop thinking about the fact that Yuna, Celine and Mi-yeong were a trio at uni.

Just like she, Rumi and Zoey already are.

That's a fucked line of thought to go down, but it plagues her nonetheless. She's never experienced the kind of loss Yuna has - hasn't got close enough to anyone yet to experience that kind of fear. But now, she thinks of something happening to Rumi and Zoey, two people she hasn't even met yet - and she is terrified.

But never mind that. She needs to focus on the present, what is real, what is tangible.

She picks up her phone again and texts Rumi privately.

Mira: Hey so this is gonna sound bonkers
But ive been thinking about it ever since you mentioned Celine yesterday
Her best friend doesnt happen to be called Yuna, does she?
If she is then uh. Thats my dance teacher. You know the one ive mentioned a lot before?
I think our adoptive parents are kinda best friends hahaha
As crazy as that sounds
Its a mad coincidence but… I've almost known who you are since I was 17

Rumi doesn't reply for hours.

At first, Mira doesn't stress. Or at least, she tells herself not to. Rumi's always been the most inactive person on the group chat. As remotely as she lives, she fills her days with singing and cooking and tending to her plants in the garden. She doesn't have the same kind of restless energy that compels her and Zoey to pull out their phones to text each other all day.

But she still normally responds within a couple of hours, even if her message is brief. A message this important, being left on delivered all day?

Mira can't help it. She worries.

She goes home from the park, has to deal with the ongoing nightmare of being at home with her parents. She's all the way back in her room, trying to listen to music to distract herself and considering privately messaging Zoey, when her phone buzzes.

She's not ashamed to admit the way she scrambles to pick it up. When she sees the contents of Rumi's messages, though, her heart drops.

Rumi: I know. I just found out too
Can you come and meet me now??
Everythings gone wrong

Chapter Text

Earlier That Day

Rumi hums to herself as she finishes up tending to her plants. Celine will be home from meeting with Yuna in Seoul soon, and though they ate breakfast there together, Rumi's going to marinate some chicken to spare Celine cooking later after what will no doubt continue to be a busy day. It's a new recipe she's found online from an American website sharing Korean-American twists on Korean classics, one Zoey had sent to them. That's a detail she won't be sharing with Celine, of course, but what she doesn't know won't hurt her.

She won't deny that as move-in day approaches, her stress has only mounted. She's still not broken the truth to Celine that she's befriended her flatmates already, and now it is too late. Maybe if she'd come clean immediately, Celine would have understood. Slightly. But now, Rumi has been lying to her for too long, and that will sting more than anything.

Unless, of course, the truth never comes out.

She can just message Mira and Zoey and tell them to act like they don't know her when she moves in. They'd probably do that for her. Or she could ask them what time they plan on getting to their flat, and make sure Celine is already driving home by that point. They both have complications in their families themselves; they'd most likely understand.

And yet… Rumi finds herself not wanting to do that. She wants, for some inexplicable reason, to be honest, even if it will most definitely bring more turmoil to her life.

She's just not ready to do so yet.

So for now, she focuses on what she can do. She finishes up in the garden. She goes to the kitchen and prepares the marinade, finishing sooner than she thought she would as she tucks the chicken in the fridge.

She doesn't have to wait long.

Celine's keys are in the door around two in the afternoon. The train out of Seoul is long, and Celine and Yuna always have a lot to talk about.

Rumi loves Yuna and is always delighted to see her, but she understands that her and Celine need their one-on-one catchups, hence the careful preparation for Celine's return. She'll get to see Yuna another time.

"I'm home," Celine calls out, as the door shuts behind her. As if Rumi wasn't already keenly aware.

Still, Rumi goes to greet her in the hallway. "How was it? Is Yuna doing okay?"

"Oh, she's as good as ever," Celine says with a fond smile as she hangs her coat up. "Busy as ever, too. She's thinking of expanding the studio, maybe even opening up a couple of others. Her husband has some new successful thing on top of that. Oh, and!" Celine's eyes light up with careful excitement as she looks at Rumi. "She also knows someone going to SNU."

"Really?" Rumi asks, interest piqued. "Like a niece or something?"

"Something like that," Celine says. "Her name's Mira. She's a girl who teaches ballet at the studio with her. Same age as you, including the year out. Yuna's talked about her before - she won't admit it to me directly, but I think she sees her almost like a daughter, sort of."

Rumi's heart skips a beat.

What the fuck.

There is no way. Right?

Rumi gets out her phone, something she would never normally do when Celine is trying to talk to her. But her mind has more pressing concerns as she navigates to KakaoTalk.

It doesn't take her long to find what she's looking for, the message from the conversation just yesterday.

Mira: Also weirdly enough I know someone called Celine too

"You said she was called Mira?" Rumi asks, hearing that her voice is coming out weird, but unable to do anything to change it with her mind reeling.

Celine frowns slightly. "Yes? I'm almost certain she was, anyway. Why?"

What the fuck.

It can't be. It's too much of a coincedence, and yet…

Just as Rumi is about to open her mouth to reply, her phone buzzes in her hand. Her eyes flick down to it automatically, as they have so often in the last few days. She expects it'll be Zoey sharing a random shower thought on the group chat, or Mira with another meme she thinks they'll both appreciate. Something she can reply to later, when she navigates out of this hole she's dug herself into.

But as it turns out, it's Mira. Privately. And she cannot ignore the string of messages her future flatmate is sending her.

Celine just keeps looking at Rumi as the notifications pop up on Rumi's screen, one by one. Celine cannot see their contents from here, but she can see Rumi's reaction, her gradually widening eyes, her mouth slowly falling open.

Then, she asks the question Rumi has been dreading since the creation of the group chat. "Who's that texting you?"

"No one," Rumi says quickly, tucking her phone back into her pocket. Her mind is reeling, but later. Later.

"Don't lie to me," Celine says, voice tired. "You've been glued to that phone like you never have been before the last couple of weeks. Is it someone I should know about?"

"Why do I have to tell you?" Rumi says, a little petulantly. A logical part of her brain reminds her that this is decidely not what easing Celine's suspicions looks like. But it's hard to think with logic after Mira's messages, even though she is not ready to tell Celine about all of this yet.

Celine opens her mouth, closes it. "…I thought you might want to tell me."

Oh.

That's not what Rumi expected, and Celine not responding with the same anger she has briefly disarms her. Maybe… maybe she can tell Celine about Mira and Zoey. The cat's already half out of the bag now, and now Mira's just confirmed that Yuna is the boss she speaks of so fondly, perhaps Celine won't explode too much.

But Celine misinterprets the hesitation behind Rumi's silence, and sighs. "Alright. Have it your way. At least promise me you've not been stupid enough to tell whoever it is about your… you know."

And just like that, the anger is back, the flicker of frustration now a roaring flame. "Oh my god!" Rumi cries out. "No! Of course I haven't! I've never told anyone in my fucking life, Celine, because you've never even let me have any friends! And now I finally have them, all you can worry about is that. Well, guess what? No one knows. You've done a good enough job reminding me every day of my life that I need to hide them no matter the cost, no matter how much it gets in the way of living a normal life."

Celine bristles, but her tone is still softer than Rumi's. A low bar. "Rumi. You can't live a normal life. Not with these. No one can know. Letting you go to university is dangerous enough."

"Letting me go?" Rumi scoffs, even though she knows it's unfair, even though Celine has spent months tirelessly buying every single thing she needs and filling out every single form that needs to be completed just so Rumi can achieve her dream, despite disagreeing with her choice to go. "Hardly."

That gets Celine's eyes to narrow. "Rumi."

"Don't deny it," Rumi says. "You just want me to stay here forever and ever, under the guise of protecting me. But you've got to let me go, Celine! I'm an adult! I need to go out and make my own decisions, away from this tiny village where nothing ever happens. And if one of those decisions is showing the people I trust my patterns, you can't stop me."

"Rumi, no." The only emotion in Celine's eyes is panic, now. "You can't trust anyone. Not with this. I do need to protect you, you don't understand what will happen-"

"And who's fault is that?" Rumi snaps. "You've never even told me what happened to my mom."

That makes Celine's jaw audibly clamp shut. Guilt briefly stabs at Rumi again, but she just keeps going.

"I'm sick of living like this, Celine. I can't do it anymore. Going to university is the only thing I've ever asked you for, and now you're saying I can't have anything else? Trust anyone else? I can't have friends who trust me, I can't fall in love, get married, get the things everyone else gets to have?" At Celine's continued silence, Rumi just shakes her head. "I can't live like that."

Weakly, "You have to."

The anger is back. "No, I don't." Spurred on by the fire roaring inside her, Rumi runs up to her room, Celine following behind her. "Maybe that's what you want for me. But I can't accept it. Not anymore."

Crossing the threshold of her room, Rumi grabs a small bag from her floor. An overnight bag, Celine had called it, even though she'd never let Rumi travel anywhere for long enough to warrant its use. She throws her wardrobe open, grabbing a few clothes and stuffing them into her bag. Then she pulls on her shoes and her coat, before facing Celine in the doorway.

"It's not your choice, Rumi," Celine says, and the devastation in her eyes makes Rumi want to look away. "It's not mine either. I truly wish things could be different, but the patterns - people would kill you on sight if they saw them. Do you truly know that?"

"Do you?" Rumi challenges.

Celine just stutters over whatever she was going to say, shaking her head. Eventually, she settles on: "What are you doing? Where are you going?"

"Away," Rumi says. "Somewhere away from here."

With that, she pushes past Celine to get to the bathroom.

Celine follows her again. "Rumi," she pleads, before repeating her question. "Where are you going?"

"You're right about one thing," Rumi says as she frantically scoops up toiletries, unable to face her mentorauntmother Celine. "This has never been my choice. I didn't ask for this. I didn't ask to be born - especially not with these."

When she is forced to look at Celine again to get past her, she cannot read the emotion in her eyes.

"But I can make a choice now," she tells Celine. "I'm going to live my life the way I want to. You can't stop me."

"Rumi," Celine says, and she raises a pleading hand towards her, but Rumi shrugs it off and gets past her again, running down the stairs.

"Rumi!" Celine says her name again. This time it is not a soft plea, but a shattering scream, and it tells Rumi only one thing: Celine is scared.

It almost makes her turn back. Almost.

"I'll see you later, Celine," Rumi offers into the charged silence. "But I need to go."

And then Rumi does exactly that.

Rumi is willing to admit she didn't exactly think this through. She has her phone, but no wallet, and their village is absolutely tiny.

With no money, the options for her great escape are essentially the local train station, the convienience store or wandering aimlessly through rows of houses just like her own. She could go further afield into the countryside, but she's not exactly packed for outdoor camping.

Besides, she doesn't truly want to run away. She just had to get away from that conversation.

In the end, she picks the train station. She's always liked watching the trains go past ever since she was little, and the signal for her phone will be best there.

She sits on the platform as minutes slip into hours with her hardly noticing. She half-expects Celine to materialise any moment now, perhaps with the entire police force of Korea in tow. But as the trains pull into the platform and speed away again, Rumi realises that for the first time in her life, Celine has let her go.

It only makes her want to return more.

She needs to. But she can't. Not yet. She just - she doesn't know what she's waiting for, but she feels like something has to change before she goes home.

But in a few hours it will be dark, and the station will shut, and Rumi might be angry at Celine but she won't do that to her guardianauntmom Celine. Sheisn't going to do that to Celine.

There is something she can do, though. Another piece of unfinished business from the day.

With a deep breath, she finally takes her phone out and opens Mira's notifications.

Mira: Hey so this is gonna sound bonkers
But ive been thinking about it ever since you mentioned Celine yesterday
Her best friend doesnt happen to be called Yuna, does she?
If she is then uh. Thats my dance teacher. You know the one ive mentioned a lot before?
I think our adoptive parents are kinda best friends hahaha
As crazy as that sounds
Its a mad coincidence but… I've almost known who you are since I was 17

Rumi takes another deep breath when she finishes reading it all. Then she re-reads all of the messages again, over and over.

For the first time since Celine got home, a smile creeps across her face.

It is bonkers. But somehow, it is true. Celine's best friend has been teaching ballet with Mira since she was seventeen.

Rumi, in a roundabout way, has known Mira since she was seventeen.

For some reason, the first thought that flicks into her mind is of Zoey. Despite the horribleness of the day, she wants to share this one good thing with Zoey, wants to pick up her phone and ring her and tell her every detail from the start. How Yuna was the one who suggested she try and find her flatmates online in the first place. How it feels like the universe has been nudging them together, little by little.

Maybe there's even another coincidence like this one with Zoey. She lives in America now, but she's spent a lot of time in Korea, too. There could be something. But even if there's not, Zoey's video is the one her algorithm decided to show to her, Zoey is the one the university administrators decided to assign her to live in the room next door to, alongside Mira. Zoey is one of the two people who have made her feel a million emotions she didn't even think she'd ever get to feel.

A part of her is scared Celine is right. That they'll never accept the final thing about her that she hasn't told them. That this is as good as it gets, and it will all be downhill from here.

But a stronger part of her is convinced the universe wouldn't have given her Zoey and Mira if all they're destined to do is kill her. There has to be another ending.

With that, she finds the courage to text Mira back.

Rumi: I know. I just found out too
Can you come and meet me now??
Everythings gone wrong

After a few moments of hesitation, she adds:

And I need you and Zoey. Please