The Girl with The Brown Hair

Jimin admitted that she had been guiltily enjoying her days whenever she was able to listen to her neighbor sing out loud in her apartment.

The one thing she took note of was that the neighbor was up and about around eight in the morning, because that was when she started singing. Sometimes when Jimin arrived home from work and Chaeyoung wasn't there yet, she caught the neighbor in the middle of a singing session, and Jimin convinced herself that it was a great way to end her workday.

And out of sheer curiosity, Jimin would take the time to listen to each song Minjeong sang, then she searched it on her music application and saved it in a little playlist.

It felt weird doing it, maybe borderline stalkerish but she couldn’t deny a good song, it wasn’t like her to. Jimin agreed that if she did things that made her look and feel like a stalker then she would ultimately stop what she was doing. She tried to reason with herself that what she was doing was that bad. But if she did catch herself actively trying to look for Minjeong on social media, because she knew she was capable of that, then she would stop.

Then again, when she really thought about it, all of this sounded crazy. When she realized she saved around ten songs from the neighbor’s selective choices, she decided to stop and maybe focus on trying to meet the girl. Saving songs and listening to her neighbor sing wasn't really the first step.

But that was only if the universe, again, permitted it to happen. Because Jimin was set on letting things fall into place, she wasn’t going to make the effort to try and meet her.

So just like any other day, after walking home from work, she was standing inside the elevator going up to her apartment and scrolling mindlessly on social media up until she reached their unit.

Jimin pocketed her phone when she realized that she was already a few steps from her apartment. Once she arrived at their door, she reached into her bag and tried to fish out for her keys, taking the time to feel for the sharp, metal grooves. The moment she found it, she quickly took it out, slotted it inside the keyhole and was about to turn the knob.

“Oh—” a soft voice suddenly came from the right side of the hall. A faint sound of a small bell rang in her head when she heard the voice.

She had heard it before.

Jimin turned her head and suddenly made eye contact with a girl standing there.

She gulped, unsure of what to do, like a deer caught in headlights. She blinked and when she got a good look at this person, she felt like time slowed down.

Brown hair that reached her shoulders, puppy eyes, the way her cheeks puffed up when her lips curled to a bright smile because the girl was in fact, smiling at her.

Jimin felt her breathing pick up, she tried to blink her eyes quickly, just to see if this was a dream. But she wasn’t waking up, this was real.

The girl in her dream was real.

“Hi,” Jimin breathed out, managing to finally regain her senses before she ended up staring at this poor lady. “You’re our new neighbor.”

The woman smiled and nodded her head, which was the cutest thing that Jimin had ever seen. “Yeah, that’s me.”

Jimin fixed the bag on her shoulders, took a few steps closer, giving them a respectable amount of space and offered her hand towards the girl. “I’m Yu Jimin, by the way. My roommate, Chaeyoung, said she’s already bumped into you.”

“Kim Minjeong,” she finally introduced herself and her voice was as sweet as Jimin imagined it to be. “I was able to meet Chaeyoung the other day, I believe. She even helped me with my panel board.” Minjeong suddenly looked away shyly. “I didn’t know she had a roommate.”

If Jimin was being honest, putting a face to the singing voice felt satisfying, but at the same time, she was internally panicking because she didn’t expect Minjeong to look exactly like the girl from her dreams. Or be exactly her, because even the voice was the same.

This was crazy.

“Yeah, well, I’m not that special anyway,” Jimin finally responded, and tried to brush off what Minjeong said. This was making her really nervous that she couldn't keep eye contact anymore. She diverted her stare, looked around and noticed the big garbage bag on Minjeong’s hand. “Taking out the trash?”

In response, Minjeong looked surprised and looked at the bag she was holding, then she frantically waved her hand. “Oh, no, this is laundry.”

“Ah, I’m sorry.”

That was embarrassing.

Minjeong blinked at her but then she suddenly giggled, and it made Jimin’s heart flutter. The dainty hand over her mouth, the way her eyes turned into crescents with how her smile rose from cheek to cheek.

Okay, Chaeyoung was right. Minjeong was definitely Jimin’s type and that was not a good thing.

“No, it’s fine. I don’t have a hamper yet, so I have no choice but to use my trash bags,” her neighbor explained.

“Oh, okay.” Jimin realized she took the keys out of the keyhole, she thought about going inside already and saying goodbye to Minjeong so she could continue with her evening. But she had this weird feeling that she didn't want to leave yet. “Excuse me,” she said quickly. Jimin unlocked the door to her apartment, dropped her bag haphazardly on the floor and locked the door again.

“Do you know where the laundromat is?” Jimin suddenly asked her, fixing herself.

“Uh… I actually don’t, I was honestly going to wing it or maybe ask for directions,” Minjeong said as she rubbed the back of her neck with her hand, looking sheepish with her answer.

Jimin pursed her lips, feeling extremely shy about it, but she wasn’t the type to let the opportunity slip from her fingertips. Plus, it was only polite to offer help. “Want me to go with you?”

“Are you sure?” Minjeong had another surprised look on her face, looking at Jimin with big eyes.

She nodded, wanting to dip her head and rest her forehead on Minjeong’s shoulders. Why was she so cute?

And Jimin was greeted with the same smile that made her chest feel fuzzy. The same fuzzy feeling she felt in her dreams. “Yeah, I'm sure.”

There was one thing Jimin discovered that late afternoon.

Minjeong was a very lovely person to talk to. Aside from how weirded out she was by the fact that Minjeong was exactly like the girl in her dreams, she liked that she was able to meet the person herself.

Jimin showed her the way to their usual laundromat, it was only a ten-minute walk from their apartment building and Jimin decided to stay with her as she did her laundry. Of course, averting her gaze when Minjeong had to take care of her intimates.

But from what she knew so far, Minjeong was one year younger than her, she was working part-time for a pet grooming salon while studying at law school and that she was born and raised in Busan. That explained her accent.

“I decided to move out of my house because being around my mom all the time was starting to drive me crazy,” Minjeong said after a long breath, the two of them were sitting next to each other while watching her clothes tumble around inside the washing machine.

Jimin nodded, she understood that all too well. “Makes sense. You are an adult, so it’s bound to happen. Also, it’s easier to get around since your school is here.”

“Yeah, that’s true. Online classes are about to end too, and I would rather be at school than stare at a screen all day,” Minjeong added as she leaned back on her seat, then she looked at Jimin with curious eyes. “What about you? What’s your story?”

The words made Jimin break into a smile, it was amusing to see how curious Minjeong was to learn more about her. So Jimin also leaned back on her seat, trying to not explode by the mere fact that their shoulders were bumping each other, but tried to ignore it by staring at the moving clothes in front of her.

“I’ve been living in that apartment for years now. Maybe when I was fresh out of the academy. My cousin helped me find that apartment because she had a friend who was looking for a roommate,” Jimin answered as she moved her hand in circles. “Which is how I met Chaeyoung. We’ve been friends since.”

Minjeong smiled at that. “Yeah, Chaeyoung was really nice when we met.”

Jimin nodded. “She really is. We’re in one friend group too, so hang outs are easy, it’s always at our apartment.” She then looked at Minjeong and copied her smile. “Maybe I’ll introduce you to my best friend and our other friend when they come to visit.”

“Yeah, I’d like that,” Minjeong replied sweetly and Jimin felt her chest go warm at that. She looked away, hoping that a blush wouldn't make its way to her cheeks and embarrassed herself.

She needed to get a hold of herself. She literally just met Minjeong, she couldn't look like a fool already.

Jimin coughed to clear her throat, hoping to expel the weird feelings inside of her. So, for the rest of their time in the small laundromat they were in, they talked, they got to know each other, and Jimin was happy to know that they could definitely be friends. 

Well, for sure Minjeong did. With how eager she looked by listening to Jimin talk and the way she would give her answers with a good amount of detail, not too vague nor too exposing.