01 OH!

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Sooyoung was expecting a lot of things when she first moved to gwacheon. but what she didn't expect was that her neighbor would be this loud. already an insomniac, sooyoung found herself unable to even close her eyes in the nights, as the person next door blasted music. the obnoxious bass sounds haunted her ears in the daytime as well.

this day was no different. sooyoung's phone alarm rang at 7:30 am, and she went about her daily routine, which included checking the mail. today a white package with the cursive font of marishe graced her doorstep, and she dropped it on her couch inside. sooyoung got ready, packed her things, and grabbed her thermos of tea as she locked and slipped out of the door.

school was uneventful, as usual. everyone already had their own friends, this being a local university. so sooyoung ate lunch by herself, surfing the internet, checking instagram, studying, or watching the latest drama episode she had missed. her lunch was the same chicken salad every day, and by her fifth week of university, she thought she was going to go crazy due to homesickness.

sooyoung, on this day, raced back home as fast as the transit bus would take her, then she jammed her keys into the lock, and raced to flop down on the couch, losing her backpack and shoes on the way. using her nails she ripped open the plastic package to reveal two separate clear plastic packages, one green the other white. sooyoung ripped these packages open too, to reveal a green tank top and white capri pants.

as sooyoung, who had changed into the clothes, set up her studio, pulling the plants and couch in front of the cleared grey wall, she heard a scream come from next door. she ran to her background to her fence, and looked over the neighbor's own backyard. knelt at the foot of one of the many tomato (sooyoung assumed they were tomato) plants was a small brunette girl with bangs, a large garden hat adorning the crown of the girl's hat. she was muttering roughly to herself, cradling a bitten leaf of said tomato plant.

the girl looked up in sooyoung's direction. "if anyone does that to you again, i will rip out their throat and crush their windpipe, then feed them their own larynx." sooyoung stared at the girl. the girl continued to glare angrily in sooyoung's direction. sooyoung followed the girl's gaze to the tomato plant growing right on the fence, under where sooyoung was standing behind the fence.

"oh! you were talking to the tomatoes. got it." sooyoung sighed. the girl made eye contact with sooyoung. she grinned, and sooyoung suddenly felt like one of those horses that were made to wear blinders, as if she was only allowed to look at the other girl's smile. the other girl's eye crinkled as she introduced herself as kim jiwoo.

sooyoung was suddenly made aware of an awkward silence. the girl, jiwoo, was looking at sooyoung expectantly. "i'm ha sooyoung." she guessed might've the answer to the girl's question. sooyoung laughed uncomfortably. "those d-damn rabbits, am i right?" sooyoung suddenly had never wanted to die more than at this moment.

jiwoo laughed. the brunette girl sighed, "this always happens this time of year."

another silence enveloped the two girls. "i like your outfit." jiwoo spoke up. sooyoung scrambled her mind for a compliment. several hundreds burst in sooyoung's mind. "i like your music." is what came out of her mouth instead. sooyoung prayed for god to strike her where she stood. jiwoo smiled, then laughed nervously. her hair went up to her bangs, and she absentmindedly pulled on a piece of hair. "i'm a terrible neighbor. i'm sorry you got the punishment of living next to me." she sighed, releasing her bangs and wiping her gloved hand across her forehead.

sooyoung, who was already unsure how to respond to that, wasn't looking to make this more awkward by making more conversation, so she gestured back to her house. "i've got to go, but it was nice meeting you." jiwoo gave another brilliant smile at sooyoung and told her that she felt the same.

as sooyoung turned back to her house, she put her hands to her cheeks to cool them down. she closed the door behind herself and sighed, flipping her hands on her cheeks. "it's not even hot outside." sooyoung muttered while making her way to her home studio and gathering her camera. as she set up the tripod camera, sooyoung's mind flashed back to her neighbor.

sooyoung clicked the tripod switch then raced to the prop stool and held up the fake camera. as she smiled at the camera, she heard loud music blast from next door. the smile that the camera caught that day wasn't a pose, it was genuine. and as sooyoung posted the photo onto her instagram to promote marishe, she noticed this.

maybe living next to the tomatoes girl wasn't going to be so bad.

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