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On a normal day Leo would be absolutely pissed to have to go to the convenience store at the crack of dawn, but if it wasn't him, then the dorm would've suffered having no milk for breakfast - and no milk means no scrambled eggs for himself, no cereal for the younger ones.
Leo is the only early bird in the dorm, so it's either him, or he'd have to wait until someone gets up around 1pm.
Still in his pajama pants, a printed band tee, his slippers, and some Avril Lavigne blasting through his earphones, Leo's stride is slow and pretty lazy as he allows his skin to bask comfortably in the peaking summer sun.
Without even realizing it, he closes his eyes to embrace the music mixed with the feeling of the sun hugging him nicely - and without sight, he doesn't see the mess of snacks on the floor ahead, and the boy almost slips on a banana milk.
"Woah !" Leo just about catches himself by widening his stance, earphones falling out for him to hear the profuse and rapid apologies coming from beside him.
"Oh my gosh- sir, I'm so so sorry, I tried to clean up before you reached here but I wasn't fast enough-"
Pushing his hair from his eyes, Leo takes a good look at the small voiced girl, her hair a light brown and bangs shading her eyes from him. Since the girl oddly reminded him of his younger sister back home, he smiles gently and shakes his head.
"It's alright, need some help ?" Leo looks down at the sea of snacks on the concrete pavement. "You seem to have your hands pretty full."
He chuckles, hoping the girl eased up and didn't look so tense around him; it doesn't, as she seems to still be hiding behind her bangs.
So, he decides to hold two hands towards her - one open for her to shake in greeting, and the other is showing her his tote bag.
"This bag is pretty indestructible. I'm Jaewook."
A glad smile pulls at his lips when the girl looks up and shakes her bangs from her eyes - first thing he notices is how adorably big and round they are.
"Thank you so much, I'm Lisa." Her introduction was slow, showing she wasn't fully familiar with the Korean language, and Leo only now remembers that her stuttering earlier was all in English.
"Not from around here ?" He switches to English, shaking her hand gently as she nods bashfully at him.
"Is my Korean that bad ?" she chuckles nervously as the two begin cleaning up and placing all the snacks in Leo's tote bag.
"It's not actually, but I know how a foreigner sounds when learning the language." he laughs to himself, remembering Minghao and Joshua's ongoing struggle with the language.
"Ah, I see," the bag is now packed and Leo is quick to snatch it since it's pretty heavy; no wonder those flimsy plastic bags gave in. "Thank you again, sunbaenim."
Lisa stares up with a smirk, whilst Leo furrows his brows at his choice of words. He doesn't recall seeing her around the Hybe building, but then again, and he doesn't recognize her from any other girl groups - she definitely isn't in Red Velvet.
Then, the girl shocks him even more by suddenly singing and loosely doing the choreo to 'Adore U'. Leo gapes at her, because he only debuted a week ago, and did not expect to be recognized this early in his career.
"C'mon sunbae, I gotta get back before the others wake up so I can hide my stash."
Lisa starts walking, and after glancing briefly into the bag, he catches up with wide eyes.
"This is all yours ?"
She nods.
"So, are you a trainee at Hybe ?"
She shakes her head. "Nope, YG."
Leo nods, following beside they girl as they continue to engage in easy conversation, whilst also having to swat her away everytime Lisa tried to take the bag.
It was unexpected, and the thought of suddenly making a friend on his way to the convenience store that's just ten minutes away from his dorms hadn't once crossed his mind - and to see that friend doesn't even live for away form either.
"Well, when you decide to make a morning trip again, call me so I can help okay ?"
Lisa narrows her gaze at him. "Call you ? How-"
Swiftly the older boy snatches the phone that she was doing a poor job at hiding behind her back. What makes him chuckle is that the phone book was already open, and Lisa looks away as a embarrassed blush covers her cheeks.
Leo puts his number in, calls himself to have hers, before dropping her phone into the bag and handing it to her.
"Careful, it's an arm workout." He informs her, and Leo can't stop the snicker her let's out when Lisa almost drops the bag the second let's go.
"What about the bag ? For your stuff ?" Lisa pouts slightly, feeling wrong for having to take something that isn't hers.
Leo chuckles before ruffling her hair, brushing her bangs from her eyes. "I got enough at home, and the plastic ones will do since I don't have a lot to get. Don't worry about it. Now head up before your puny arms give up on you."
"Hey !"
"Go !" Leo begins pushing her towards the door gently, careful to not push too hard and cause her to drop the bag.
The girl cutely waves behind the glass while sticking her tongue out at him, before she disappears up the staircase.
Leo smiles to himself, and finds himself hoping she'll debut and be successful one day - and he hopes he'll be able to congratulate her when that happens.
