Roofmates

Sleep on the Roof Often?

"Hi."

Doyoung scoffed and looked away, shaking his head. He suddenly whipped his head around to glare at me again.

"Where you eavesdropping?" he questioned.

I sighed and replied, "No, actually. I was sleeping, and you woke me up."

"Do you sleep on your roof often?" Doyoung asked, raising one of his eyebrows. Those were some nice eyebrows. They make me feel insecure.

"Yeah," I answered. "But why are you up here? Aren't you too sophisticated to climb on a roof?"

"Thanks for noticing, but I wanted privacy," he said, his narrowed eyes focused on me. "But why is it any of your business?"

I frowned and said, "First of all, it's not a very personal question, and second," I crossed my arms, "why do you hate me?"

"I never said that," Doyoung said as he leaned back on his elbows.

"Well you act like you do," I explained.

His head tilted back to look at the sky, showing his sharp jawline. "In order to hate someone, you have to know them," he clarified. "I don't know you, and right now I have no reason to want to get to know you."

Rude.

"We should still try to get along, though," I told him, "because I think our parents kind of expect it. And I don't want to be hated by my neighbor forever."

Doyoung looked at me again, but this time he seemed like he was studying me.

"Like I said, I don't hate you," he began, "and from what I've seen about you, I don't think we'll get along."

"H-hey, that was a one time thing," I argued. "And I didn't have any other pajamas to wear."

Doyoung laughed at my obvious lie, his eyes squinting as his mouth opened into a gummy smile. His laughter died down as quickly as it came and he quietly said, "You'd get along with my brother."

"Huh?" I asked. "Your brother?"

Doyoung was staring at a part of the roof when he said, "My older brother, Donghyun- I mean Gong Myung. He changed his name to start his acting career. Said it was easier to remember and pronounce"

"Oh cool!" I commented. "He's an actor?"

Doyoung smiled slightly and replied, "He's trying right now. In Korea. But I know he'll make it. He's my brother after all."

There was silence for a few moments before I spoke up. "Do you miss him?" I asked quietly.

Doyoung was quiet for a while so I didn't think he heard me.

Just as I was about to ask again, he answered, "All the time." He looked at me and asked, "How is it having a younger brother? I always wondered how it was for Donghyun."

I thought for a second before answering, "It gets really tiring at times. You get frustrated and annoyed and want to be alone a lot. But when you're alone, you realize you want to be around him again. To be honest, the good times don't just make up for, but outweigh the bad. By a lot, at that." I paused briefly before adding, "But it was probably different for Gong Myung, having a more mature brother."

"He did say that sometimes he felt like I was the older brother," Doyoung said, laughing a little.

Hm. Maybe he's not as bad as I thought.

He looked at his phone that was balanced on his leg. "You should go inside. It's almost dinner time."

"Oh, really?" I asked, surprised. "Wow, I was asleep for a long time." I stood up and started walking down the roof to my window. I stopped and looked behind me. "See you tomorrow," I waved to Doyoung.

He nodded back to me and said, "Don't fall again."

"Yeah, I'll try."

I was just about to climb through my window frame, when I heard something from back outside. I listened closer and realized it was Doyoung singing. I recognized the song, "Beautiful", from the drama, Goblin. His voice really was beautiful. I sat down on my window frame and listened while he sang.

He got through two more songs, "Half Moon" by Dean and "If You" by BIGBANG, before Mom called me downstairs for dinner. I sighed, disappointed I couldn't keep listening, but I finally left my window, keeping it open in case I heard Doyoung singing again.

Mom, Jisung, and I ate our dinner, which was my favorite, Japanese curry. Dad wasn't there of course, because he was on another business trip to Germany. Too bad he missed out on this.

It was mostly silent, as we were all focused on our food, but then Jisung spoke, with food still in his mouth, "Ca Chenra come ober tomorrow?"

Mom smacked his arm and scolded, "Finish chewing first!"

Jisung swallowed after a while and asked again, "Can Chenle come over tomorrow? At, like, twelve? And eat lunch here?"

Mom sighed and said, "Sure. But you have to clean your room first, okay? And you better not eat all of our food. Oh, and speaking of tomorrow," she turned to me, "can you show Doyoung around the school? Just so he knows where all the buildings are."

I groaned and asked, "Why are you asking me if I don't have a choice?"

Jisung giggled and said, "I think you should be asking Doyoung. If I were him, I wouldn't want a tour led by Melody. Especially after what happened today."

I kicked him under the table and he yelped. I glared at him and stuck out my tongue. Childish, I know. But then again, so is Jisung.

Mom shook her head at us and said, "Actually Mrs. Kim suggested it. I'll tell her eleven o'clock."

I sighed and muttered, "At least I'll be home in time for lunch. I can't wait to come back and have a nice meal after that."

Mom smiled and added, "Mrs. Kim also suggested that you and Doyoung go eat lunch together afterwards. It'll be a great time to get to know each other better! You'll be his first friend here!"

Yeah, right.