𝐒𝐀𝐄𝐌𝐏𝐋𝐄.

        reading saem’s message brought a satisfied smile to his face. him bringing soda meant that he had one less thing he had to worry about. “ you’re the best <3 ″ 

        the knock on his door still came a tad earlier than he had expected, but nonetheless he had managed to make his small apartment look at least somewhat presentable. it sure as hell wasn’t neat or tidy in any way, but it certainly had looked way worse before. there had been instances where it had looked way better too, but .. also way worse. considering it was just saem who was visiting, it would have to do. 

        “ damn, you were fast as hell. ” niran chuckled as he opened the door for his friend, gesturing for him to come in. “ i would go on a long ass tangent about how messy it is in here but you know the drill by now. i invite someone over without looking at my surroundings, they say yes, i actually look at my apartment, i realise how badly i need to clean it and then the other person arrives way before i have a chance of finishing. ” he explained, sighing after he had finished his little monologue.

“i guess getting somewhere fast is never good, huh?”, he joked with him sarcastically, pushing his way inside niran’s apartment. it was always just slightly unsettling to hang out at the other’s place, as saem was sure that at some point he’s gonna bring some demon home into his own apartment just by having sat on niran’s couch or something of the likes. 

“i know, i know. it’s fine. i’m not the cleanest either.”, saem explained, eyes wandering over the peculiar decorations with a shiver running down his spine. pacing his way towards the living room table, he placed his backpack down, fishing out the bottle of soda and the pack of snacks he had brought. “what have you been up to lately anyway?”, he asked as he brought his attention back to niran, raising a brow. 

memorizing the layout of the complex would have been a smart move, for the sake of emergencies like a fire or an intense zombie outbreak as showcased by b grade horror films. she’d study many a netflix film in the comfort of under her blankets, too squeamish all the dark red corn syrup and special effect limbs flying left and right. how foolish of her to go through the trouble of having her essentials packed in the closet in case of mass hysteria fully equipped with a self defense knife she’d purchased the night after watching #alive at a local shop, but not even knowing an exit other than the front door was laughable. except she felt like doing everything but laugh at that moment. right, she’d have to check her calendar app to see if it was her time of month approaching based on her current emotional state. 

“no, not in a hurry.” she murmured. “more like eager, i guess. i want to see results now. i need to.” she doesn’t bother providing context, figuring that saem wouldn’t care to listen to her ramble about the messages she’d heard at three in the morning from her spiritual guides. 

she loops her arm around his, except rather than have it be something intimate or weird she makes a show to tug him along with her fast paced walk. “saem, have you ever thought to yourself, ‘how in the fuck did i end up here?’ because that’s where i am at right now. so now i’m trying to be un-here because if i am here for one more second i just might explode. you ever get that feeling?” 

he followed along, letting her tug him down the hall with her fast-paced walk. for someone not being in a hurry, she was definitely giving off a different vibe. slightly flustered, he cleared his throat, trying to think of an answer to her question - which proved to be slightly harder as expected as he didn’t want to say the wrong thing. after all, he really wasn’t an ‘of arts’ person, not someone who would consider himself anything close to a connoisseur of philosophies of any kind. 

as he stepped to the side for a moment, he rattled on the knob of an unknown door, probably a utility closet or anything of the likes, but it wouldn’t budge. “have i ever thought...”, he mumbled, turning towards the other, placing his hands into her shoulders to keep her still for at least one moment. “are you alright?”, saem asked with a rather serious tone before he furrowed his brows, thinking of her question once more. “why don’t you want to be here? everything is alright, isn’t it? are you healthy? are your friends and family healthy?”, he continued asking, trying to figure out why the other suddenly had gotten this feeling of wanting to flee her life. 

🌸         “ONCE you go down the care bear rabbit hole, you never come out, saem.“ poppy warned, stopping dead in her tracks and looking him in the eye. "it’s dangerous. deadly, even. you don’t know the lengths that people go to for those cute little smiling faces.” after a pause, she couldn’t help but laugh at her own joke. “did i at least scare you a little, or am i making a fool of myself? you know it wouldn’t be the first – or the last! – time i did that.” after hearing what he supposedly collects, poppy nodded. “that’s interesting, though. you’re probably the smartest person alive, because i’m sure all the old electronics will be ‘cool’ and 'trendy’ again eventually. now, it might happen in 25 years, but then you’ll be set!” the blonde cheered before stopping, growing seriously. “if we’re still talking then, can i give you my old devices and we could split the profits?”

when he mentions that he appreciates her always taking photos, poppy can’t help the warmth that blossoms inside her. it’s nice to have the little things be appreciated. “i’m just … i don’t know, it’s stupid, really. i just worry about forgetting things eventually. lately, everything has just seemed so temporary, like it’s gone right as i’m getting used to it being here. i just like having pictures to remind me.” she’s not sure where the sentimentality comes from, but it’s welcome. “besides, when you’re rich and famous, i’ll be able to sell these pictures to all the magazines and make a fortune.” she says, eyes gleaming with mischeif. “for bringing me here, you can get all the rice cakes you want. as a treat. okay, kidding! but don’t you want, like, a real meal? oh, orhow about a movie? is there anything you’re dying to see?”

saem stopped for a moment as well, grasping onto the fabric of his shirt as he listened to poppy’s words about the care bear mafia. “uhm...”, he stuttered for a moment, not sure what to say. this whole business seemed more serious that he had expected - after all, he knew that some fandoms would be rather aggressive, but he wasn’t expecting these levels of aggression over the care bears. finally, he let out a loud sigh, rolling his eyes at poppy as she had in fact fooled him a little. “god, i knew you were playing me.”, he said as he reached out to punch her shoulder very gently, showing her a small pout. “i seriously thought, for a moment, that the care bear fans were about to haul my ass in the arcade in a few...”, saem said with a soft chuckle, amused by her words. “ah, you know.”, he started walking once more, brushing a hand through his hair as he thought for a moment. “i mean some electronics will just be trash and then others might increase in value, i guess it really depends. but maybe, just like with the care bears-”, he explained with a motion of his hand, “maybe i just need to find the right people? there might be people interested in about anything? are there any other collectibles that are more... ‘in’ apart from the care bears that you got?” 

knocking on @saemple’s door !

it’s her first night at her new apartment, and baking manages to make the apartment smell a little more homely and make a good impression. multitasking! it’s the housewarming thing, the sort that starts neighbours off on the right foot. siujing isn’t the best baker by a long shot, but she’s got a couple of reliable, tried and tested ( and tweaked, and tried, and tested again ) recipes that she’s confident in. one of them being oatmeal cookies, generously sized and studded with gooey chocolate chips and sweet raisins.

half an hour and most of fine line later, she’s laid them out to cool on her makeshift rack made of a lattice of utensils. they’ve lovingly misshapen, the careful crosshatch pattern she’d made on each one looking a little different from its neighbour. siujing splits them into two even batches, one for each apartment on their shared level, covering each plate with clingwrap.

the first plate goes to her immediate neighbour, siujing holding her freshly baked goods and goodwill in a pretty plate with a rim of burnt orange. she waits for a minute — no one answers. they’re out, maybe, or just not in the habit of answering the door for strangers ( which, fair enough ). siujing leaves the plate in front of their door with a sticky note, her greeting squashed into it.

hello, neighbour in 408! i’m jing and i’ve just moved in next door — nice to meet you! i hope the moving in hasn’t been too distruptive, but if it has, i hope these cookies make up for it! ( and, of course, please let me know if there’s anything i can do to make it better ) they’re chocolate chip raisin oatmeal, please enjoy them :) see you around!

                                                                                         ♡, siujing

it had been rather late when saem finished his tutoring. with exams coming up, students were flocking to him with all sorts of questions, which he was glad to answer, however he didn’t think he would have to stay at the library until around ten pm. dragging his feet, he had made his way home, thoughts full of the fluffy pillows on his bed and a cup of ramen.

there wasn’t much left to this day, he wondered if he had wasted any time and if life was going to be like this always - waking up, working, sleeping - but he quickly shook his head to get rid of the depressing thoughts. pushing open the main entrance door to the lobby, he let out a sigh of relief as he was finally home. 

as he made his way around his corner, he immediately stopped in his tracks as his eyes noticed something unfamiliar in front of his door. “huh?”, saem let out in surprise, slowly approaching the plate just sitting there. now, he couldn’t really imagine anyone he knew just leaving cookies in front of his door ( not to question their baking skills, but.... ), so this was something unfamiliar. 

after he had picked up the plate and placed it down onto a kitchen counter, he grabbed the sticky note, separating it from the clingwrap as he held it up in front of his eyes. a small smile tugged on the corner of his lips as he read it, appreciating the good deed of his new neighbor. before he did anything else, he tried one of the cookies with a soft hum, enjoying the taste; simple but still very delicious. 

as he grabbed another cookie, he fished out a piece of paper from his backpack, starting to write a note back – as he knew that it was late and he didn’t want to disrupt her evening. when it was finished, he hurried out into the hallway once more, silently shoving the note underneath her door – in hindsight that was slightly creepy ( maybe ), but he decided to shrug it off for the night. 

      a small smile spread across his face as he scanned saem’s text message– for some reason, waiting around for the reply had made him just a tad nervous. well, maybe a little bit more than a tad, even. just what was he going to do if the other didn’t even bother to answer? would things become awkward? would their friendship end? there were way too many questions plaguing his mind for what felt like forever until the long awaited respond took him back to planet earth. what a relief. “ sure, but don’t mind the mess .. i mean it’s nothing new, but still. bring whatever you want, but i think i have all the essentials here too. unless you need your favourite stuffed animal by your side or something? ”

       getting up from his bed, niran’s gaze wandered around his small apartment, trying to see if there was anything lying around that saem wasn’t supposed to see. thinking about it for a few more seconds, he had no idea what could be so special or embarrassing that he didn’t want other people to see. what was he even worrying about? shaking his head, he hastily walked over to the kitchen, checking out whether he had anything to drink that wasn’t tap water. well, the answer was a hard no. “ actually, if you would like to drink anything specific, i’d advise you to bring that. i don’t have shit around here. if you don’t have anything either, we can order it too though. ”

saem stopped in his tracks as he heard his phone vibrate once more, this time on the kitchen counter. placing the pack of snacks down that he had just grabbed from the cupboard, he peered over to take a glance of his phone. “stuffed animal?”, saem let out a scoff, shaking his head lightly. after all, if he’d be scared at night, he could just walk back into his apartment. chuckling, he went over the next message, pursing his lips. rummaging through his fridge, he finally found a bottle of soda buried somewhere behind a lettuce, picking it up. 

🌸         “i don’t just think so, i know so.” poppy stated, matter-of-factly. “when people see these cute lil’ guys, they go wild. morals and ethics are thrown out the door and it’s a dog-eat-dog world out there.” as she’s explaining this phenomenon, her hands are gesticulating erratically. “i guess it’s just a collector thing. once, i saw an auction for a complete set of the original release bears go for 10,000 american dollars. can you believe that?” poppy asks of him before holding up one of them. “if you ship them over there, i’m sure someone would be willing to pay a lot for it.” she glances wistfully at the bear before returning her attention to saem. “if you had that kind of money, what would you spend it on? do you collect anything like that, or are you to cool for it?” she giggles a little and sticks her tongue out at him, trying to prove that she’s only kidding ( even though, come to think of it, she could probably list 10 things off the top of her head that she would pay big money for, should she ever come into that kind of wealth. ) 

poppy shook her head. “honestly, if someone saw my instagram, it would probably make me look worse. i mean, you’ve seen it. how many silly photos do i have of you and hyejin?” she questions before shrugging. “it’s probably for the best that she didn’t ask; my instagram isn’t exactly pop star ready, if you know what i mean. lucky, however, is ready to take on the world – both in real life and online.” she glanced down at the dog in mention, who was splayed out on the ground, laying on his back and looking like he was smiling at the two of them. “lucky you, lucky. you can just lay around all day and no one calls you lazy – you just get treats and belly rubs.” poppy reached down to pat him on the tummy, to which he wiggled around, happily. she said her goodbyes and was out the door with saem within a few moments. the pair walked down the street and poppy listened to his explanation. “ooh, a side street? hm, now that throws everything i had planned about this mystery person off. evil genius is out, which means that it might have just been someone who didn’t know any better.” she arched an eyebrow and shot a smirk his way. “are you sure you didn’t put them in there?” 

“no, i actually can’t believe that.”, saem shrugged at her words, somehow in disbelief that some plushy, fluffy bears would be of that much value. “i mean i kind of get it, i know that like collector’s stuff can be expensive but damn... i never went down the care bear rabbit hole, i guess?”, saem said with a soft laugh as he eyed the other. deep down, he wondered if she owed anything of that price range, raising a brow in curiosity. however, it might have been better to just not ask about it this time. he thought for another moment, not sure if he was truly collecting anything of value. shaking his head lightly, he answered her question. “i don’t think so. but definitely not because i am too cool.”, he chuckled, amused by the truth of his words. “if you count never throwing old electronics away because ‘you might use them later’ as collecting... then maybe.” 

“are you sure about that?”, saem asked as he gently handed over dani’s phone. he had been shaking his head this entire time, unsure whether all of these online-flirts were the real deal. others might consider him as too traditional or boring, however he only considered himself as worried for his single friends. “you know like... these people could be anyone.”, he explained after staring at the handsome face of a stranger on the screen. “maybe he doesn’t even look like that!”

. ♡ —   𝒸𝓁𝑜𝓈𝑒𝒹 𝓈𝓉𝒶𝓇𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝒻𝑜𝓇 @saemple​

     it had been quite a while since niran had come out of his cave at this point. surely, everyone was used to not seeing him for a couple of days at a time just for him to suddenly reappear again like he was never missing. in the beginning, most of his friends had been worried whenever he wouldn’t reply to any messages for a couple days in a row– but since he would somehow appear and apologise every single time, it had become routine to everyone in his life. and saem wasn’t really an exception to that phenomenon.

    “ wanna hang? i can get some pizza and soda if you’re in. ” niran swiftly typed away a text message only for it to be followed by a second one. “ sorry i didn’t get back to you, but you know life. food’s on me tonight. “ even though he usually provided his friends and acquaintances with valid reasons as to why he had been busy or not in the best mood, there was still a hidden part of him that was worried whether any of them would ever take it to heart and start disliking him. he knew that his habit of only talking to his friends whenever he felt like it was wrong and that he needed to change his morals, but he still had a long way to go.

just as saem had wasted a thought about food - tummy rumbling gently as he went over the same few lines of code over and over; the sound of his phone vibrating against the table came as a salvation. “huh...”, saem wondered as he saw the name of niran pop up on the screen. “haven’t heard from this dude in a while.”, he whispered with a soft chuckle to himself, glad that the sometimes so elusive neighbor was reaching out to him once in a while. however, he got it, some people just needed more, some needed less time, alone or social time, it didn’t really matter. nobody was the same and saem could understand. at least most of the times. 

    THE COLD HAS LITTLE EFFECT ON THE WARMTH OF HER CHEEKS … the breath of wintry refresh caresses the side of her face, brushing the burning skin kindly, though somehow only managing to enhance the cerise hue. the conviction in his voice is enough to chase away the chilly touch of late autumn, hardly able to feel the unwelcoming press of winter-blooming into her bones. saem’s unyielding faith that their time together would be enjoyable — free from professional margins and unspoken boundaries; no outside forces to interfere on their doings, efforts or behaviors — has hyejin building a hopefulness inside her heart. he makes her want to believe that things will be nice. maybe not just for this evening, but as long as he’s around. she briefly wonders if he can see how such simple words — romanticism intended or not — manage to crack the fortress of pessimism she’s built over the years. “ i’ll never forget this day, either. ” she says, managing to sound somewhat steady even though she’s a hop, skip and a jump away from the conversation at this point. but even if it takes her a little bit of time, hyejin desperately wants him to know what he says has meaning. she’s still blushing, still unable to quell her racing pulse, but slowly, she starts to work up just the tiniest bit of courage. “ t-there’s no way that anyone would say— erm, say no. ” she continues when he carries on, but this time she has her eyes glued to the pavement. small steps, hyejin. the blonde swallows, an erratic heartbeat following until she dares herself to glance up at his side profile. “ er— i wouldn’t say no.. t-to spending time with you. ” but as quickly as she’s mustered up enough nerve, she turns again — hues stinging a little against the wind as she faces forward. she takes another breath, hoping the heavy exhale she mimics from him is devoured by the sound of their footsteps against the ground. “ y-you sit around a lot too ? ” she tries to carry on the conversation as they round a corner, blinking slightly. she imagines the life of a full-time student ( and tutor! ) to be quite busy, so to hear him say he finds himself sitting around here and there is a little surprising. though, she thinks, you’d probably do a lot of sitting between studying for yourself and helping others. “ it sounds like both of us might be er— couch potatoes ? ” it’s a gentle attempt at a joke and she smiles nervously, sparing him another glance. “ can you … be a couch potato without watching television though ? ” the question hangs in the air — unanswered for now, though that might be for the best — and saem’s own inquiry takes it’s place a moment later. “ uhm— they’re nonexistent ? ” she answers shyly, though truthfully — the admittance has her cheeks burning again but she also laughs this time. “ it sounds like you kind of have an advantage over me. ” a small pause, smile widening ever so slightly. “ to be honest … i’ve never actually been ice skating before. er— i’m pretty clumsy, so … ” and as if the universe tries to prove this point, she finds herself tripping over her own two feet as they come to a pause at the crosswalk. the momentum has her tightening her grip on his arm, trying to regain her balance, but only managing to stumble closer to his side in the process. she’s mortified, hoping he doesn’t think she’s done it on purpose. “ … s-see ? ”

saem smiled at her words – he could barely believe that those had just come out of her mouth. she seemed too shy and he hadn’t expected them, but they did warm his heart. “i’m glad. see? this day will be wonderful.”, he practically beamed at her, nodding along. it could only go right at this point. however, he didn’t fully agree with what she had expressed next, knowing that there would be most likely more than enough people to say no to him. after all, he was just the dude who would sit around the library, geek out about old electronics or play some video games, nothing out of the ordinary, no, quite the opposite: so incredibly boring. “ah, well, you know...”; he muttered, his free hand once again fumbling with the collar of his jacket, nervously. “well, i am glad you said yes then. it might be quite fitting then. i mean... us. or like...”, saem let out a laugh, stumbling over his words at this point. “oh man.”, he continued chuckling, no clue what was going on. “don’t mind me.”, finally adding on, he turned towards her and smiled, shaking his head at himself. 

“i actually do sit around a lot. i mean i could also study or teach while standing - but... not sure how people do that.”, with a short thought about those standing desks everyone was all hyped up about, he pulled his shoulders into a shrug. “we could always just sit around together, you know? create a sitting-around-club.”, saem offered, nudging her side very gently with his elbow. quickly he added on, “ah, don’t worry. just as we can have that sitting club we can have a how-to-ice-skate-club.”, he said before he could quickly react to her stumbling over her feet. turning his body slightly, he grabbed onto her other arm to hold her up, preventing her from tumbling further. “oh–”, saem chuckled at her clumsiness, feeling shy at the sudden closeness. “oopsie! happens to the best of us. are you alright?”, he asked with a slight tilt of his head. 

🌸         

“YOU’RE so right,” poppy went along with what he was saying, laughing along the way. “at least scientists will be able to learn a lot from me, so me being a thousand years old isn’t a total waste.” her attention was still mostly on funshine bear, perched in her arms with a perpetual smile on his friendly face. ah, what a day and it had only really just started! knowing that there was a place somewhere in the city that had a crane machine filled with these had her itching to go there. saem had all the luck; it really wasn’t fair, but it was very kind of him to go out of his way to let her know about it. hyejin was right, he really was a great guy! “once the word gets out, i’m sure the line will be all the way out the door. maybe it’s just me, but i’ve always seen the care bears as being a big collector’s item.” as poppy says it, she grins down at funshine. “a very cute collector’s item, but still one nonetheless. not sure if the person who put these in the machine was some sort of evil genius. you know the old saying, everything that’s new is old again …” poppy trailed off, running what she’d just said back in her head. “no, wait. everything that is old is new again. ha, that makes more sense!”

watching saem interact with lucky made her heart happy. poppy knew that lucky was a good boy, but being so small, he tended to get overwhelmed sometimes which lead him to act a little more aggressive than he actually was. poppy didn’t want anyone to get hurt, but she also didn’t ever want someone to get the wrong impression of her sweet lucky. “isn’t he? when i was walking him the other day, this lady came up to me and asked if he had an instagram account. i honestly couldn’t believe i’d never thought of it. doesn’t he look like he could become instagram famous?” she joked, watching lucky all but melt into saem’s hands, clearly feeling safe with the boy around. “that’s why i named him lucky! well, that and the fact that the people at the shelter told me that they found him in a pretty rough part of town. hey, speaking of, where is the arcade where you got the care bears?” while it was easy to veer off the subject whenever lucky was brought up, poppy was serious about going down to the machine and perhaps putting all of her last paycheck into it. “let’s go and find out! i’ve got some money in my purse, so the next bear is on me, okay?”

the thought of people piling on top of each other just because of care bears was more than just curious to him. “huh...?”, saem tilted his head a little, thoughts trailing off as he eyed the other care bears he had carefully settled down somewhere. “you really think so?”, he asked with his brows knit together. “i can barely believe that they are this popular, you know? i mean... i don’t know. is there some sort of insider vintage pop-culture cult?”, he continued asking her, his head now shaking lightly. “poppy, is that what you are keeping from me? are you all just up to something else? like it starts off with monthly exchanges over the internet about care bears and then at some point you have weekly meetings with people shrouded in robes to go and steal all of the possibly-out-there care bears?”, the tutor said with a soft laugh escaping his lips, his words catapulting into insanity. “right, sorry. but i mean you’re right, nowadays you can find collectors for about anything so it wouldn’t seem that far off if some of the bears got taken from our hands already.”, saem explained with a soft shrug - after all, he still doubted that anyone had emptied the machine in these thirty minutes that he had been walking home and visiting poppy. 

“ thanks, man, i really appreciate it. i was like seconds away from doing this unsupervised and i don’t think i would’ve lived to tell the tale. this ladder really doesn’t feel particularly sturdy. “ he says honestly, feeling it wobble even as he climbs up. note to self: don’t trust random tools and furniture found inside dusty old closets. 

“ well, i think a lot of it is just that the woods kinda old and it’s swelling with the weather and temperature changing, i won’t really be able to do a lot about that. “ he starts unscrewing the top hinges as he speaks, “ but these hinges are also all jacked up, probably from people moving in and out, slamming furniture into it, all that good stuff. then when it rains and frame gets rusty and a little harder to open and we, or at the very least, i, start kicking the shit out of it. which just… entirely threw it off center and jammed it up. “ for a second the door makes a loud creaking noise, but jiho seems entirely unbothered by it, instead just casually shoving at it to get everything sitting straight when it finally, finally, snaps into place with a groan. “ my dad owns this little shop and the building’s old as hell and this sort of thing happens all the time. “ he puts the screws back in, with a bit of pressure, feeling the way the ladder struggles to hold him even with help. he silently thanks whatever god that may be for not letting him attempt it alone. “ alright, it should be good now. “ he says, slowly climbing down the ladder and stepping back, admiring his handiwork. it even looks visibly straighter. he turns to the other tenant, waving a hand. “ do you wanna do the honors? “

saem listened intently as the other spoke, nodding along. he had never shed much thought about the door, just that it would jam a lot, but never why. for some reason, it was entertaining to him to finally get behind the mystery - which in the end didn’t seem much like a mystery anymore - that was kept secret by the door.  “i hadn’t thought about that.”, saem finally said, agreeing with the other. “it’s almost like it is alive and growing or shrinking. kind of like us?”, he let out a soft laugh at the thought of the door being alive and breathing. almost jumping a little at the loud creak the door made, he wrapped his hands tighter around the frame of the ladder, making sure the other wouldn’t stumble off of it. 

saem had already been tense before he even entered the coffee shop. with a straight face, he pushed open the door, being hit almost immediately with the aroma of freshly ground coffee - delicious. on a whim, he already felt better, turning his body towards nabi – who, he wasn’t even really sure why, he kept hanging out with. saem tried to tell himself that she wasn’t that bad, but she definitely was some sort of personality. with a polite smile, he tried to guide her to a table as soon as his eyes had wandered over to the counter. 

having her order would be a pain in the ass for her, for him, and especially for the people working there and everyone around them. in his expectations, he hoped that she wouldn’t be like that every time, but at the same time he didn’t want to risk another fifteen minutes of his life wasted by some senseless back and forth just because nabi was peculiar like that. 

    POUNDING HEART SITUATES ITSELF IN HER THROAT … she can hardly breathe as the words leave him, his eyes searching her own before his mouth stretches itself into a wide smile. everything about the moment has butterflies swarming in her stomach. the wings beat impossibly fast against her rib cage, and hyejin thinks the shear force of them alone might disturb the garden that has grown inside. she worries they’ll push rose petals to the seam of her lips and each bloom will come spilling out. “ you won’t forget about this day … ? ” she wonders if he understands the significance of the whole situation — hyejin has never considered anything she has done ( or will do ) to be so noteworthy, never thought anything could be considered memorable. so, to hear him make such a considerable claim, state that this night will be burned into his memories … she wonders if maybe this is what she’s been waiting for her entire life — she had thought purpose would come in the form of something like a fastened profession or maybe she would achieve her dreams of getting into art school again, but never did she think that fate had tugged on her heartstrings just to lead her to him. perhaps it’s that fact alone — the notion that for once, just once … maybe hyejin was exactly where she was meant to be with who she was meant to be — that has her mustering up enough courage to intertwine his arm with her own. “ n-no, erm— n-not at all. ” she says nervously, clearing her throat gently to avoid her voice cracking. the courage that had sealed itself into her veins is gone in seconds, leaving her a blushing mess ( the two undoubtedly looking feverish to anyone who passes them by ) and hyper-aware of how close in proximity the two of them have become. she doesn’t dare look at him just yet — eyes glued to the elevator door they’re standing in front of — thinking maybe she should have left her jacket at home. he’s impossibly warm beside her like this, their bodies pressed close to one another, the heat radiating off of his form ( not to mention the warmth creeping up from her neck ), making her palms grow sweaty. she briefly wonders if she’s gone crazy somehow — how can someone think in one moment that everything felt right with the world and then be a nervous wreck the next ? “ uhm— ” say something, say anything. she wills herself not to make the whole thing more awkward than it already seemed to be. “ you didn’t— there wasn’t— i mean, i’m really happy you asked me out. i mean, erm— well, w-we are going out … o-outside. but erm— ” maybe don’t say anything. the elevator dings! and she thinks she might break a record for single-handedly embarrassing herself in a matter of hours. “ a-anyway, erm— y-you didn’t disturb me. t-truthfully, erm— i’ve just been sitting around all day. ”

he seemed surprised at her words, wondering if he had gone too far with his little almost romantic remark and if he had gotten the wrong idea of the situation. it was hard to tell, all while the other seemed flustered, it wasn’t like saem had ever been much of a ladies man. obviously he had dated here and there, but he had never considered himself as someone who got around much - or enough to know what he was actually doing. he was going to ask about it, lips already parted, but instead he decided on saying something else. “yes, i will always remember beause it’s going to be a nice day, right?”, he said with a reassuring smile on his lips. “now that we can finally spend some time together without the confines of professionalism surrounding us.”, saem said with a soft chuckle, quickly entering the elevator alongside the other, pressing the button for the ground floor. 

“well, i am glad that you said yes.”, he answered her comment of being glad about going out, her words making him laugh softly and letting his head hang low to stare at the ground for a moment, this giddy feeling certainly also being rather overwhelming for himself. her closeness to him played into that, leaving him rather breathless. clearing his throat to make sure he didn’t sound dry - he really was trying his best as to not appear as the most nervous person on this planet at the moment, however he wasn’t sure if anything of that was working as he caught a glimpse of himself in the reflection of the elevator door; his usual rather pale complexion suddenly changed into the one of a tomato. letting out a - way too long - exhale, he nodded at her words. “well, sitting around all day isn’t that bad either, happens rather often. uhm- at least for me, i guess!”, saem quickly explained, feeling rather glad as the elevator stopped at the ground floor, the thought of fresh winter air hitting him soon was feeling like a blessing to him. 

her  entire  demeanor  radiated  with  determination ,  and  minji  refused  to  give  up  before  she  was  inside  her  warm  apartment ,  no  matter what .  “  forth  floor ,  huh  ?  man ,  i  hope  you  cannot  hear  me  screaming  in  the  middle  of  the  night .  ”   she  scoffed  as  she  followed  him ,  eyes  following  his  to  the  fire  escape  she  had  spotted  while  watering  her  plants .  quickly  realizing  that  her  words  sounded  awfully  cryptic ,  the  gamer  could  not  help  but  fidget ,  her  ears  gently  blushing  in  embarrassment . “  lord  that  sounded  so  fucking  enigmatic ,  i  promise  i  am  not  a  murderer  or  some  shit .  i  recently  got  a  VR - set  and  phasmophobia ,  that  is  what  i  meant .  ”  sighing ,  she  turned  her  attention  to  the  fire - escape  again ,  hoping  that  she  had  not  made  a  complete  fool  out  of  himself .  “  it  is  worth  a  try ,  isn’t  it  ?  i  think  i  can  reach  my  window  from  the  ladder ,  actually .  if  you  boost  me  up  i  can  probably  reach  it .  and  then  we  can  climb  inside  my  place  ———  you  see  the  red  neon  lights ,  with  the  monstera  flower  in  the  window  ?  that’s  me .  ”  pausing ,  minji  could  not  help  but  laugh  at  the  situation .  “  it  feels  kinda  exciting  to  be  breaking  into  your  own  apartment  complex .  

saem paused for a moment; listening to the other. screaming, huh? he wondered, seemingly staring back at her with a blank expression before she explained herself, getting a laughter out of him “oh! i see! that sounds so cool. isn’t that way too scary?”, saem asked back, eyes wandering back to the fire escape, gulping a little at the amount of ladders that laid before them. he quickly found the window the other was talking about, red light flooding from it, making out the faint outlines of the monstera plant through the glass. “yeah...”, he said, almost trailing off as he was already way further in thought, seeing himself dangling from one of the ladders. 

🌸        SAEM’S apparent disbelief caused her cheeks to burn. she knew that not everyone loved to play cruel pranks on her, but poppy also knew that not everyone at this apartment complex was rushing to join the yeo poppy fanclub. she should have been kinder to herself, but moreover, she should have been kinder to saem and put some faith in him. “you’re right. i’m sorry.” she affirmed. “but don’t go getting any ideas, okay? now you know my number one weakness so, unless it’s a butterfly, i don’t want to see any bugs.” the blonde tried to pass it off with a laugh, but it was a half-hearted one at that. 

are care bears that old? poppy nodded before adding on. “you know, people give some of the oddest stuff away. i can’t tell you how many times i’ve seen a doll that i had as a kid sitting on one of the shelves. i always pause and pale because, i’m not that old, am i?” the girl pondered it before quickly adding a – “i mean, my neck does crack a little when i move it certain ways.” at the mention of them being authentic, poppy gently took one out of his hand and inspected it. she’d done her research to determine if a care bear was real or not and, sure enough, she grinned at the tag. “they’re really real saem. that’s such a great find! whoever put them in the arcade game had a stroke of genius. you know how many people will stop by and play, just for a chance to get one of these guys?” then she paused and realized the situation. “… well, yeah, probably! i mean, that’s what caused you to pause, right?” out of the corner of her eye, poppy saw lucky with his eyes fixated on saem. he was a good dog, waiting his turn to greet her visitor, and she really hoped that saem wasn’t afraid of dogs because it would be awkward having to rush lucky away from him. “yes, let’s do that! come here, lucky, meet saem.” she called out to the sweet boy who, happy to finally have a reason to, raced over to saem and began sniffing his legs and hands. “he’s such a big baby, you wouldn’t believe it.”

her words amused him, slowly nodding along to what she was saying. “ah, no, you are definitely a skeleton by now, that’s how old you are.”, he laughed softly, obviously making a joke at the other. he watched her inspect the plushies, impressed by her knowledge and by himself of having spotted the right thing apparently. “maybe there’s some sort of special thing going on in the arcade, i just spotted the care bears and kinda got a feeling that you might enjoy those, i mean, from what i’ve seen...”, he said as he let his eyes scan over the other’s apartment, her liking to certain plushed up personalited being rather obvious. 

as he eyed lucky, he couldn’t help but smile and slowly squat down, stretching out his arms to welcome the pomeranian to his touch. petting him gently, saem let out a soft laugh. “he is a very cute big baby, that’s all i can say.”, he cooed at the dog as he continued to scratch his ears. looking up at poppy, he showed her a reassuring smile. “you’re always taking such good care of him, i am sure he is the luckiest dog out here.”, saem said before bringing back his attention to the pup, his voice high pitched as he spoke to him once more. “isn’t that right?!”