“Come in unnie.”

Yongsun nodded and flashed a smile to the girl who was holding the door open widely for her.

‘They are so neat,’ was the first thought that came to her mind when she stepped into the house. Yongsun immediately shook her head. ‘No. I should not falter!’

“What’s wrong unnie?” A voice from behind startled her. “You feel hot right?”

“Rooftop house is like this, hot in summer and cold in winter. Hyejin and I have considered about buying a second-hand air conditioner, but since we’re gonna spend most of our time at the company it will be a waste.” The younger girl walked to turn on a small fan at the corner of the room.

“Above all, we don’t have that much money.” Byulyi said with a helpless smile. “Have a sit unnie, I will bring you some water.”

Yongsun sat down on the small sofa in the living room, faint wind from the fan was tousling her hair. The rough surface of the sofa told her it must have been a very old one. There was not much stuff there, only a TV and some magazines on the table. The last time Yongsun saw this kind of TV was at her grandma’s house ten years ago. She wondered if it was still working or not.

Suddenly something cold touched her left cheek, making her body jerk. Yongsun turned her head as she heard a giggle from behind, to see Byulyi standing there with two ice cream bars on her hands.

“It is better than water right?” Byulyi passed her one of them before tearing off the wrapper and taking a big bite. The younger girl wrinkled her nose, her small Indian dimple popped out.

‘It must be cold.’ Yongsun chuckled at her expression, in those times Byulyi resembled a hamster so much. She opened her ice cream bar and took a small bite. Her body shivered slightly at the sudden coldness, but she soon relaxed as it began to melt, leaving only creamy and sweetness in . Yongsun took a quick glance at the wrapper in her hand, trying to memorize the name of the brand. It would be her favorite ice cream from now on.

“Let me show you the house unnie.” Byulyi said when their ice cream bars were half-eaten. Yongsun nodded and stood up, following the younger girl closely.

“Even though the house is a bit old, most of the rooms are still in good condition. Here is the bathroom. There is a bath but we have never used it-”

Yongsun tilted her head in curiosity.

“Well, water bill...”

She let out a small “ah” before giving the younger girl a sympathetic look.

“There are two bedrooms. Hyejin is using the bigger one but her room does not have a closet. You can choose to stay with me or Hyejin, or you can use my room and I will stay with Hyejin.”

Her feet stopped and her eyes opened wide.

She finally remembered the reason why she was here today. Yongsun gulped as she felt become dry all of a sudden when she looked at the younger girl’s exciting smile. How could she tell Byulyi the truth now?

Byulyi and Hyejin had moved in this rooftop house since last week. It was Byulyi’s idea when on a late-night practice session the youngest girl confessed that she was depressed because of living alone in such a narrow place. Yongsun knew about it, and she promised to visit them often as their place was not so far from her house.

Yongsun came from Seoul so she was living with her family, and she had thought she would continue living with them for at least one or two more years. Her parents had stopped giving her pocket money for months, and her small income from her part-time job did not allow her to move out, maybe not until they debuted and moved into their dorm. That was her plan before Byulyi approached her after their choreography practice today.

They were sitting side by side at the corner of the room, chatting about random stuff like always. As their conversation went on, Yongsun slowly lost track of things around. She got distracted by a drop of sweat rolling on Byulyi’s face, before falling on the younger girl’s prominent collarbone. She was attracted to the way Byulyi’s eyelashes slightly fluttered when the younger girl was speaking. Yongsun just nodded at everything Byulyi said while her eyes were fixed on the younger girl’s perfect nose.

When Byulyi suddenly asked her: “Are you sure unnie?” with an exciting voice, Yongsun also nodded with a blank mind. Only when Byulyi pulled her into a tight hug while thanking her again and again before running to where Hyejin was resting with a wide smile on her face, did Yongsun realize there was something wrong. “Yongsun-unnie, thank you so much.” Hyejin ran to her and gave her a big hug. “Thanks for moving in with us.”

Yongsun sighed. She wanted to slap herself so hard when she thought back what had happened. How could she tell them that she was not in her right mind back then, that she could not live together with them? Her heartbeat rushed when she looked up to see the younger girl staring at her face restlessly. Byulyi must have sensed something was wrong, Byulyi would be upset at her. Yongsun stopped breathing when the younger girl walked to her.

“You got a stain here.” Byulyi chuckled.

Yongsun felt her heart skip a beat when Byulyi’s thumb touched her lips corner. The younger girl wiped off the cream stain gently, before her finger clean.

Yongsun blushed. Byulyi was right, it was way too hot here. She should not live here.  

“And here is the kitchen.” Byulyi took the stick on her hand and threw it into the trashcan in the kitchen. “Hyejin is a good cook, so we don’t have to worry about our meals.” The younger girl said with a smile.

Yongsun smiled back at her awkwardly, wondering if it was time for her to spit out everything.   

“Oh, is it about to rain?” Yongsun turned her head to the direction Byulyi was looking at.

Outside the window, there were dark clouds hovering around in the sky. The wind started howling, making the old window creak. Lightning flashed, following by a thunderclap and heavy rain started to thud. 

“The weather in summer is so weird, just few