𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 • 𝐬𝐚𝐩𝐧𝐚𝐩

twenty three

ailee had just made it in the lobby door of the apartment building when the plastic bags holding her shopping broke. "shit" she mutters as she watches the apple roll away slowly. bending down, she picks up each item one by one, and places them back into a still functional bag, before a blonde man a couple of metres away makes his way over to help.

he bends down beside the annoyed girl, speaking. "here, let me help" he says in a calming voice. ailee looks up and smiles at him, earning one back almost immediately. once the shopping had all been retrieved, the pair both stood up and faced each other with subtle smiles. "thank you, i hate these stupid bags" ailee chuckles as she talks, the blonde haired man joining in with a laugh.

"they can be a real pain, glad i could help." he says with the same deep calm tone, and the same smile present. ailee extends her hand, waiting for a handshake. "im ailee" she says and the man shakes her hand, his grip loosening and face falling into an expression of shock as he processes what she said.

"ailee?" he asks hesitantly. the girl laughs and nods, their hands still loosely connected. "yeah i know, its a weird name, i get that a lot". the man nods slowly, with a state of shock still present. "im clay" he says, the girls face almost instantly mirroring the blonde's.

"as in..... like clay clay?" shes stutters out, causing clay to nod slowly. "oh my god" she whispers, repeating it slightly louder as her expression turns to a large smile, suddenly hugging the tall man infront of her. "clay!!! oh my god its so good to finally meet you! how are you? you look exactly like how i imagined you to". clay laughs at the girls excitement, hugging her back tightly. "dude nick is going to kill us for meeting before u guys do" he says. "i dont even wanna think about it" the girl laughs loudly, breaking the hug and looking at him.

"you're so tall what the hell" she says, having to look up to hold eye contact, causing clay to laugh and mock her for being short. the pair start heading towards the elevator, talking about the unexpected meet and how they both knew what each other looked like now, making their way to their neighbouring apartments.

ailee's previous state of shock is quickly revisited as she sees a guy sitting on the floor infront of the apartment next to hers, also known as clay and nicks apartment. clay quickly looks between ailee and the boy, his face showing a high level of stress as the guy hurriedly stands up and walks to clay.

"bro where have you been? ive been locked out for half an hour i lost my fucking key. do you know how many people have stared at me? it was so awkward" the guy says to clay, ailee becoming even more shocked as she recognises his faces, now knowing it was nick, and sapnap. her nick was sapnap.

ailee and clay both stay silent, ailee trying to process what is happening, and clay trying to come up with anything to say, stuttering for words. nicks face contorts into a confused expression, looking at clay before his gaze shifts over to ailee. "oh clay you finally found someone. whos the girl? im nick" he says, putting his hand out to be shaken. ailee reaches forward to weakly shake it, still lost for words. "sapnap?" she whispers out. nick laughs and looks at the ground. "yeah, thats me. and you are?" he questions, dragging out the last syllable.

"im ailee."

author speaks!

:o what's happening here