#hrsjae

[ imessage 📲 coolest neighbor ] hey i’m outside [ imessage 📲 coolest neighbor ] pls open the door asap i need you to go out for lunch with me

Jungrin sends off the texts as she steps off the elevator, one floor down from her own living spaces, immediately heading for apartment 401. It hadn’t taken long after Jungrin moved into Hyesun apartments until she had claimed Song Jae as her first official friend in Hwaryung. A chance encounter in the elevator, the older offering his help, had soon resulted in a friendship. The woman had soon learned Jae is a Hwaryung native, something she was quick to take advantage of. The two of them have spent countless days together in the city, the man showing her around the city she had so suddenly fallen in love with.

Her back leans against the wall as she waits for her friend to come open the door, her gaze focused on her phone as she scrolls down her social media feeds. It’s a familiar position to see her in — she can never go too long without checking what the other people in her life are up to. She’s aware it might not be the healthiest of habits, though she excuses it with the reasoning that it’s part of her job. Which is true, if one considers what she does a job. ( Which her mother certainly doesn’t. ) 

As the door is unlocked, her attention snaps up, greeted with the familiar sight of her favorite neighbor. An easy smile finds its way to her lips. “Hey there, neighbor. Fancy grabbing a bite with me?”  

Loneliness seeped into Seungbin's veins when the digital clock by on his nightstand read a time he often confused with noon. He nursed the pain in his left shoulder, residual from the bite of someone hungrier than him.

( It grew the precise reason practice sessions cut themselves short ㅡ and for the evening's emptiness. How humorous he found himself longing for something once decryed in the past. )

Restless, Seungbin wondered the city streets, lingering like a long deceased soul seeking answers. He glanced to the night sky, to the flakes of snow fluttering in a blur among the visible stars above. It served as a momentary glimpse of solace from negative thoughts swimming within his head. ㅡ It was then he concocted the perfect plan to relieve him of the building pressure.

Thus he opened text message neglected from the afternoon before. ( Merely a result of his own exhaustion. Surprising given the social butterfly he claimed himself to be. )

message sent to contact "sj windfall"

ㅡ still up for that offer if you are ㅡ by simsaedong if ur close by... or awake

His fingers danced over the touch keyboard repeatedly, then the button with an 'x'. It was evident of his reluctance to open his heart to discussion. Nothing new, nothing easily changed. That, however, was his initial motivation for becoming acquainted with the rival company member in the first place. Who better than a seasoned veteran of those few tactless the industry would breed?

Seth’s sense of time was completely distorted. At some point during the week, he had lost track of time and he still felt like he was lost in limbo. That’s what happened when he could only scrape a few hours of sleep here and there. It always too busy around that time of the year. Not that he was going to complain about having more work, but he often wondered if perhaps the fashion industry sometimes liked the dark circles under his eyes a bit too much. It added a bit of edginess to his look, or so he’s overheard once.

He runs his hand through his hair, brushing back the strands as he makes his way down the street and toward his destination. Despite his lost sense of time, he knows that he’s supposed to meet Jae today. It’s written down in his phone and he was reminded of it when an alarm went off earlier. He glances at his watch and he doesn’t know if it’s too early or too late. The streets are mostly empty, it’s dark, but could be only because clouds are obscuring the sun from view.

He wants to sink his body into something soft and not move anymore. His stomach rumbles and he wonders if perhaps he should stop to buy food before meeting with Jae. Maybe he should text him, ask him if he’s hungry too and want something. He does end up stopping for food, buying containers of noodles and spicy chicken. There’s sweet and sour pork too because why not. He carries the plastic bags with him all the rest of the way to his destination.

He knocks, and as soon as the door opens, he slips inside. He toes off his sneakers, the laces had already been mostly untied and he heads toward the kitchen, leaving the bags on the counter. “I got us food,” he announces as he turns around and goes to look in Jae’s fridge to see if he has anything interesting in there. And he does. Seth’s eyes fall on a cake and suddenly, it’s like nothing else matters but this cake. He straightens up, holding the cake as if it was the most precious thing in the world (and perhaps it is).