The Ease of Social Climbing [jinsoo]

one: astray

When they told him he would find odd personalities in the city, he hadn't expected someone as peculiar as the lady living next-door. Even though he had small, brief encounters with her, he already knew that the girl was way beyond strange. Yet despite his awareness of this blatant eccentricity, he could not ignore the fact that she arrived just in time to give Jin some inspiration to write.

As fierce bolts of lightning struck the city outside, he wrote adamantly in his brightly-lit corner-- the pen clutched between his calloused fingers.

     "The man could not describe the girl with mere words. She was carefree and bubbly, which added some excitement to his stay at his new, lifeless suite..." He recited quietly, marveling at his handiwork.

He drew his pen back to the page, but before he could even scrawl in a word, the lamp by his desk table promptly shut off, along with his bedside light. As he flickered the switch to the ceiling light multiple times, with no prevail, he grumbled under his breath.

"Well, shit..."

*

Jin headed out of his apartment and knocked on the door of his next-door neighbor, in hopes that she was awake. He perked up when the shuffling of feet could be heard from the other side, straightening his posture immediately.

The girl opened the door with apparent eyes of alarm, and possibly some detected hints of fear. She was dressed in a silky, pale pink robe and her hair was half-up but still as messy as it was this morning, yet she still managed to look somewhat elegant.

An audible sigh left her lips.

"Oh, it's just you." She mumbled, while clutching the robe tighter to her body.

"Sorry, I just came to ask if you had some sort of battery-powered lamp or some candles laying around. Any means of light, really."

The woman hummed. "Oh, okay. Come in, I was just looking for that as well." She said, yet more vibrantly, and opened the door wider. He returned her smile and walked inside, looking around at the empty, yet messy look of her apartment.

The couch was small and in the corner. It was accompanied with a large suitcase that overflowed with her belongings. Besides that, and some assortments of barely filled shelves, there was nothing else to look at in the spacious living room.

He turned to her, who was sticking her head into a cabinet to pillage for the desired candles, and tossed some stored items to the side. One moment, he had to dodge a pair of slippers and a large hat as she carelessly flung it in his direction.

"I can never remember where I put my stuff..." She murmured and Jin grunted as a pack of period pads hit his face.

"Yes, I wonder why..."

The girl stood up and scratched her head, looking at him innocently.

"I only have one." She said, holding up the single candle.

"Oh." He uttered, unsure of what to say. "It's fine then, you can use it."

Jin received no answer.

Perplexed, he looked at the girl whose eyes were fixated on his hoodie, with a cute, white puppy on the front of it.

"Uh, miss...?"

Her eyes narrowed. "Why does it feel like I'm forgetting something?" She said and drew closer to the man, observing intently.

"Look, I don't know—"