Chapter Text
Hyuna threw open the front door to her apartment, throwing her bags on the floor. It was just another day of monotonous office work, but she dreaded it nonetheless. When Hyuna thought of herself she didn’t think that she was like every other salary man, but despite that, her entire life revolved around her boring job.
She pulled her hair loose from the clawclip that was holding it and slipped off her light gray blazer, setting on the back of her couch as she headed into the kitchen.
Opening her fridge she was met with nothing appetizing as she moved onto the freezer only to be met with the same response, strikingly bare. Hyuna sighed and reluctantly grabbed another pack of instant ramen from her cupboard and turned on her stove.
She was almost 30 years old and had accomplished many “adult” things, buying her own place, having a stable job, but she has yet to be able to cook a well balanced meal for herself, another day another processed and pre-cooked meal. She would love to cook more, but she hardly had the time, with her job she could hardly exercise anymore, and it was the only effort she made to keep up with her health.
It bothered her, of course, but there wasn't much she could do at the moment. Hyuna looked over to the pile of dirty dishes in the sink, with an annoyed huff, she picked up the cleanest looking pot and grabbed a towel beginning to wipe the dish clean. Yes it's gross, but she was tired and hungry, the last thing she wanted to do was clean dishes.
Her actions were disrupted as her doorbell rang out through the flat. Hyuna throws her head back in disdain and lets out a loud groan, throwing the towel haphazardly to the side. Hurrying to check who was at the door, she wondered who could be begging for her attention at this time. Maybe it was a Salesman, they didn’t usually come knocking this late so perhaps instead it was some witness that felt the need to convert her tonight.
Contemplating different ways to reject whoever had come knocking, Hyuna swung the door open not expecting to see her next door neighbor, Till, he looked just as surprised as hyuna felt, she probably looked terribly disheveled.
Hyuna straightened her back and tried her best to quickly smooth out her hair.
“Oh.. Um hey.. What's up? Sorry, was I making too much noise or something?” It was a bit of a baseless guess, she had just gotten home and had barely touched anything yet, but better be safe than sorry when it came to neighbors.
Till let out a small snicker as his lips lifted into a soft smile,
“No you’re all good, don’t worry.” He shifted his weight slightly and took a small breath in.
“I was actually wondering how you’ve been, you haven’t shown up to any community events in a while… I was just wondering.. sorry , um this is probably weird.” Hyuna had run into Till before, at said community events, which she hadn’t been attending lately. He was always nice and cordial, but had a mysterious air about him, like there was more about Till that nobody could access, and he made a killer pasta salad. They had chatted a few times and got along just fine, but nothing past shallow conversations that were hardly memorable.
Hyuna had no idea she was being missed though, it was a pleasant surprise. Till was rambling on nonsense obviously getting progressively more nervous, Hyuna held out her hands in reassurance,
“Oh no not weird at all, sorry i've just been busy that's it. Thanks for checking in on me though.” She gave him a small smile and he nodded in response.
The air fell silent, neither of them knowing how to end the interaction. Till's shoulders suddenly rose and he opened his mouth to say something, when the smoke alarm in Hyuna’s kitchen began blaring. She wiped her head around and began striding towards the kitchen, the towel she had just discarded so carelessly was now burning up on her stove.
Hyuna cursed out loud and began scrambling around to find the fire extinguisher, never having used it before she had no idea where it could be. The fire was growing by the second and searching for a solution wasn’t coming easily.
Till suddenly swung around the corner and let out a large gasp, but Hyuna couldn’t be bothered by the random man that entered her home, she was too busy trying not to die. Smoke was now filling the small kitchen threatening to suffocate them both, at least if the fire became too uncontrollable she wouldn’t die alone.
Till suddenly rushed forward, knocking Hyuna flat on the ground, he surged for the pot that occupied Hyuna's attention only a few moments ago. He quickly filled it with water and dumped it on the burning towel, extinguishing it completely.
Letting out a relieved sigh he set the pan aside and slightly turned his head towards hyuna,
“Um.. sorry, I can clean that up for you.”
Hyuna chuckled, “You just saved my life, I don’t think you have to worry about that.”
Till let out a breath and began to laugh lightly along with her before walking over and holding out his hands to help her up. Hyuna let him, she was brought to her feet but lingered in his hands for a moment, she wasn’t sure why but it felt nice. Almost like a glimpse back into her high school years, holding hands with her first boyfriend, calm and sweet.
Till let go of Hyuna's hands and took a small step back, looking to the side and down nervously.
“So… I have food back at my place, if you would like to not deal with this right now.”
It would be nice not to clean this up and get a free meal along with it, Hyuna smirked,
“Are you asking me to dinner?”
She asked with a smile, Till let out a small laugh and a light blush appearing on his cheeks.
“ I guess so.”
Hyuna cocked her head to the side
“I’ll head over soon, yeah?”
Till’s eyes widened slightly, maybe realizing he was just standing in the middle of his neighbor's kitchen.
“Oh yeah ofc, 320, yeah… the one next to you..” his sentence dwindled off, embarrassed by his social ignorance. He bowed slightly and quickly hurried through the front door, closing it behind him.
Hyuna let out a small breath she had been holding, smiling a bit to herself, her heart was beating loud enough for her to hear, awfully giddy about the past interaction. Straightening her back she shook off the feeling and went to go get ready for dinner, and maybe a glass of wine.