The faint sound of wood clattering against the ground causes the drummer to sigh in frustration. She wipes slippery palms on the rough denim of her jeans, cleaning the sweat off before reaching for the drumsticks again.

Lisa Manoban begins to play with renewed vigor. Steady, rhythmic thumps fill the garage in no time. Her anger drives her hands wild soon enough and the pace picks up, growing rapid as Lisa plays with more speed. She pushes herself to go faster, eager to finally match the tempo she's been working towards for two hours.

Just a bit faster...

Faster...

"Ah!" Lisa hisses audibly and clutches her hand to her chest on instinct. Crimson paints three of her fingers and her drums.

Upon inspection, Lisa notices the dry cracks in her palm have split to the point of bleeding. Her skin is pinkened from exertion and light green in several places, marking healing bruises. Lisa's hands have turned into somewhat of a crime scene. Blood is no stranger to her and neither is the near-constant ache in her wrists.

Lisa merely sighs after assessing the damage, more annoyed with having to take a break than anything else. She stands and walks to the back of the garage, where a bowl of ice water is waiting for her.

The water's color morphs into pale pink as she dunks her hands beneath the surface. The chill that runs up Lisa's spine only serves to remind her of how hot it has grown inside the garage. It traps heat even in December, so now that it's summer the warmth of the room is almost unbearable.

No matter. She'll just have to wear less layers, shorter shorts, tighter tops.

Lisa chews her lip thoughtfully, wondering where she could find more thin, long-sleeved shirts. Her body isn't high up on her short list of insecurities, but the small, circled design just above her wrist makes number one.

Soulmate marks are... personal.

"Lisa." Her aunt, Jieun, walks into the garage through the house entrance. She wrinkles her nose instantly at Lisa's appearance. "Make yourself presentable. The neighbors just moved in. We're going to go say hello."

"I'm presentable." Lisa grumbles, wringing out her wet hands to air-dry them.

Jieun raises her eyebrows, clearly unimpressed. Lisa scowls as she looks down at herself. She's wearing a simple, black tank top that is now soaked through with sweat, and jeans that are in a similar state. Both articles of clothing are darkly colored, so there are no visible stains.

Lisa doesn't see a problem.

She towels off anyways, knowing Jieun won't hesitate to force her into the shower. "Why do we have to introduce ourselves?"

"It's polite."

Lisa wants to explain that she doesn't give a rat's ass about being polite, but unfortunately (or, maybe, fortunately) Jieun is gone before Lisa can get another word out.

Reluctantly, Lisa starts to rifle through some of the larger containers stacked against the wall. She keeps some spare clothes in the second row. Lisa spends a few minutes trying to find something with long sleeves that isn't overly heavy. She settles on a deep blue flannel and carelessly pulls it over her shoulders.

If Lisa adjusts it properly, it doesn't look too bad, despite it being slightly oversized. It might be one of Taehyung's forgotten shirts from middle school.

"Lisa!" Jieun calls. "Come on!"

"Okay, okay." Lisa complains under her breath. She pats her drum kit lovingly on the way out.

Unsurprisingly, Jieun is waiting with a rather dramatic look on her face. Jesus, Lisa hadn't taken that long to get ready.

Lisa holds up her hands in surrender as she joins her aunt on the lawn. She smooths her hair back, trying to appear a bit better looking. It would probably be wise to make a good first impression. These are her next-door neighbors, after all. They'll have to deal with Lisa's late night drumming, so it would be nice if they had a good opinion of Lisa beforehand.

As they approach the other house, Lisa spots a bearded man heading through the front door. He looks to be busy with carrying several boxes. Lisa searches for someone else, and her eyes quickly land on a tall blonde standing by the moving van.

"Hi. I'm Jieun Manoban." The cheery tone she uses has Lisa fighting an eye roll. "This is my niece, Lisa. We live next door."

An elbow nudges Lisa's side quite unhelpfully. Lisa stops inspecting the blonde — she looks around Lisa's age, but dresses as if she's much, much older — and internally panics for a second as Jieun discreetly stares her down.

What is she supposed to do? Jieun already went ahead and introduced them both.

Lisa settles on awkwardly holding out her hand for the other girl to take. She cringes internally, but is thankful when the blonde returns the gesture without commenting on it.

"I'm Somi Park."

Thankfully, the bearded man comes back out of the house before things can get too awkward again. While Jieun launches into adult talk with the man, Mason Park, Lisa allows herself to relax a little. It's nice to have the attention off of herself.

That is, until Jieun follows Mason into the house and completely abandons Lisa.

Somi's head tilts to the side, her eyes glinting with something that immediately unsettles Lisa. She gets the sense that the only reason Somi refrained from teasing her over that greeting was because of her aunt being there.

"Are you good with your hands?" Somi asks out of the blue, turning to gather a couple boxes.

Lisa blanks. "Uh-"

A sizable stack of boxes is suddenly placed in Lisa's hands. Lisa staggers to the side, nearly tipping over at the unexpected weight. It takes a second, but she manages to settle herself.

"First room on the left, upstairs." Somi says simply.

Lisa frowns when she realizes that it's more of a command than a request, but she wills herself not to complain. Her last neighbors were never very appreciative of her drumming and would often come over to complain or (on worse days) would just send the police over. She hopes that things will be different with the Parks.

"Chop, chop." Somi claps her hands in the air. Lisa fights back a growl.

Be nice, be nice.

Lisa carefully maneuvers up the driveway. It isn't hard to carry all of the weight, but she finds difficulty in navigating a house that isn't hers while barely being able to see.

Thankfully, Lisa stumbles upon the stairs and manages to climb up them without falling on her ass. It's no small feat. Lisa is winded by the time she reaches the hallway. She doesn't think twice about going through the first door on the left, as instructed, and dropping the boxes on the floor.

If it sounds like something broke — well, that's Somi's problem.

Lisa barely gets a chance to catch her breath before someone smacks something against the back of her head.

"Ow, what the fuck?" Lisa spins around and dodges the attacker's next swing by ducking. "Stop, stop, stop. Somi sent me."

The blows to her head halt abruptly once Lisa mentions Somi's name. Lisa probably should have done that sooner. At least now she gets to actually look at the girl who has been trying to murder her with a... ukulele?

The girl has delicate, soft features and an adorable mess of a bun on her head. Lisa absorbs the view of doe eyes, full lips, and a slightly scrunched nose. She suddenly wonders how she had been afraid a second ago.

This girl seems so innocent, like maybe she accidentally wandered out of a Disney movie.

"You're not a robber?" She questions, the instrument still held up in warning.

Lisa laughs but chokes it back when she notices the ukulele sway towards her slightly. "I was putting things in your room, not taking things out of it."

"Oh."

The girl hesitates before allowing the ukulele to hang loosely at her side. Her guarded stance relaxes considerably once she seems to realize that Lisa isn't a threat. Lisa finds herself relaxing with her, now that she knows she won't be hit again.

"I'm Roseanne." Roseanne nestles her plump bottom lip between her teeth. The shy action causes a sudden rush of affection to pulse through Lisa.

Roseanne.

Lisa hears the name ring in her head. It echoes for some reason, as if on a constant loop. It plays so loudly that Lisa nearly misses how Roseanne offers her hand.

"I'm Lisa." She replies.

Foreign fingertips accidentally slip under Lisa's sleeve during the handshake, nearly skimming her mark. Lisa presses her tongue to the roof of her mouth, feeling an odd tension build at the base of her spine.

"Do you usually try to assault your guests?" Lisa questions teasingly, hoping a joke will crack the strange feeling.

Roseanne only grips her hand tighter, returning Lisa's smirk. "Do you usually try to sneak into people's rooms?"

Whatever protest Lisa has about not sneaking in dies in her throat as the handshake becomes a little too firm. She winces, remembering the cuts along her palm, and Roseanne's puzzled expression falls to Lisa's hand.

"Sorry." Roseanne not only pulls her hand away but takes several steps back. "Give me a second."

Lisa ignores the annoying tug in her stomach, the one that is irritated with Roseanne for letting her go. She has a boyfriend. More so, she has a soulmate. It's weird of her to be standing around, longing for the touch of some stranger.

Yet, Lisa can't help but be relieved when Roseanne returns, this time with a jar of some sort of cream.

Roseanne steps back into Lisa's personal space without an ounce of hesitation. Lisa stays still, allowing the other girl to take her wrist and inspect her palm. Roseanne's lips form a small frown as she twists open the jar and begins to apply some of the substance to Lisa's cuts and bruises.

"What's that?" Lisa questions, sniffing the air. It smells earthy. Close to rosemary, but not quite.

"Oh, it's sana." Roseanne explains, which only serves to confuse Lisa more. "It's a plant. My aunt, Suzy, is kind of a witch with healing creams."

Lisa nods at that. The cream is sort of cold, but it feels soothing on her skin. Eventually, her skin absorbs the cream, but Lisa lingers around for longer than necessary. It feels nice to have someone take care of her so thoroughly. She hasn't had anyone do that in a while.

"What happened?" Roseanne's thumb carefully traces over a sore spot.

"I drum... sort of aggressively." Lisa explains, pleased when her comment makes Roseanne giggle. "Do you play that ukulele or just hit people with it?"

A faint blush dusts Roseanne's cheeks. "I play it."

Before Lisa gets the chance to tease Roseanne further (something she finds she really, really wants to do), Somi barges into the room. They break apart from each other like they've been burned. It's only then that Lisa notices she hasn't properly exhaled since she entered the room.

Somi glances over Lisa with disinterest. "Oh. You're still here."

"Don't be mean." Roseanne rushes to scold Somi, sending a bashful smile Lisa's way.

Lisa already has a favorite sister.

"Fine. You could be of use." Somi approaches Lisa once again and this time Lisa backtracks, not wanting to be forced to carry more boxes for her. "Where can we get decent food around here?"

"Uh, Sunmi's is good."

Shit.

Lisa shouldn't have said that. She has plans to meet up there with Taehyung and the band in about an hour, and now there's a chance that she'll run into Roseanne there. Though, running into Roseanne somewhere wouldn't be so bad. She already has the sneaking suspicion that Jackson and Roseanne would get along.

They could even be soulmates.

Now that Lisa thinks about it, she forgot to check to see if Roseanne has a mark. It doesn't look like it, but Lisa can't be sure. She wonders if Roseanne has turned eighteen yet — she does have a bit of a baby face.

"Alright, enough checking out my twin." Somi bats her away, ignoring Lisa's protests. "You can leave now."

"Twin?" Lisa repeats. They look nothing alike.

"We're fraternal, genius."

The door slams in Lisa's face. Lisa gapes at the wood, considering knocking on it, but she drops her fist before it can make contact. What is she even doing? Those girls are strangers and this isn't her house. She has her own home to return to.

Lisa descends the stairs, ridding the ridiculous idea of sticking around from her mind. She tells her aunt that she's leaving and does just that, not feeling properly safe until she's shut up in the basement again.

Thanks to Roseanne, her hands feel fine again. Lisa considers going back to drumming, but decides against it. She has to meet her friends soon. The least she could do for them is shower so they won't have to deal with her stench.

God, did she talk to Roseanne smelling like this?

Lisa frowns, wishing she had taken Jieun's comment about being presentable more seriously. There's nothing she can do about it now. She longingly glances at her drum kit once more before backing out of the garage, but stops suddenly as she catches sight of something unexpected.

If she stands on her tippy toes, she can see out the window from this angle. It gives her a full view of the house beside hers, the one that belongs to the Parks.

Roseanne is sitting near the bay window in her bedroom, her legs crossed and the ukulele set delicately in her hands as she strums something Lisa can't hear. Whatever it is, Roseanne must know it by memory, because her eyes are shut as she plays.

Light falls over the window, illuminating Roseanne to the point that it almost appears as if she's an extension of the sun and not a human being. Warmth spreads through Lisa's body as she stares, memorizing the tiny details of Roseanne's bright smile. She looks beautiful.

She looks golden.

Lisa sinks to the floor, feeling creepy and invasive. She should really shower.

—-

Not long after her encounter with the Park twins, a freshly showered Lisa is stepping into Sunmi's with a much better opinion of her appearance.

It's easy to spot her friends, since the place is mostly empty. Not a lot of people would want to come to an old diner for dinner when Seoul has more modern options, but Lisa adores their fries and the lack of a crowd whenever she comes here.

Jennie, Jackson, and Taehyung are all waiting for her with two large plates of fries and an untouched milkshake. Their expressions brighten when they see her, all of them waving and shifting around to accommodate her. Lisa slides into the seat beside Taehyung as always, fitting in the small booth easily with her short legs.

Taehyung grins extra wide at her presence and presses his mouth to hers. Kissing Taehyung is as familiar as breathing — Lisa does it without thinking and without emotion.

"What are we talking about?" Lisa questions, settling further into the booth.

Jennie smirks. "Jackson's love life."

She takes a sip of the milkshake they ordered for her. Strawberry Blast. Good.

"What love life?" Lisa counters. She stops drinking when she notices Jackson's crestfallen look. "Sorry, dude."

"I just want to find the one, you know?" Jackson picks at a fry, his eyebrows pinched in clear distress.

Lisa feels worse for making that comment. She hadn't meant anything by it, but Jackson being a total hopeless romantic has been a running joke in the group. Plenty of girls like him, but none are his soulmate. It's hard to feel sympathy for him, especially when he broke up with Yeri a few months ago and caused them to lose their lead singer, Key.

"Oh, she knows." Taehyung interjects, not giving Lisa a chance to cheer Jackson up. His arm goes over Lisa's shoulders. "We're very lucky."

Well, that's douchey of him.

Lisa's mouth twists into a frown at the same time Jackson's does. She wishes that Taehyung would stop mentioning the soulmate thing everywhere they go. It's no secret that they're ending up together — people have known that since elementary school. They don't need to throw it in everyone's face.

"You haven't even gotten your mark yet." Lisa whispers under her breath, unable to resist.

"But I will." Taehyung stresses, not bothered in the slightest. "My birthday is-"

"At the end of the week, I know. It's not today, is it?" Lisa closes her eyes and chews her straw, not wanting to deal with the situation she just created.

He's not even eighteen yet.

Lisa has no doubts that the talisman on her wrist will show up somewhere on Taehyung, but it hasn't happened yet. It's like declaring that your heart will continue to beat. Sure, everyone expects it to go on with its steady rhythm, but saying it aloud will only jinx it.

After a moment, Lisa opens her eyes again. She leans over and kisses Taehyung's cheek solidly enough to put the smile back on his face.

"What do you want to do for your birthday? We can do whatever you want." Lisa offers, glad to see his face soften and know that she's safely avoided an argument.

"I was thinking about a pool party." Taehyung says.

Everyone nods. It's summer and Taehyung has the biggest pool out of them all, so it's the only logical thing to do.

The door opens and closes behind them with two quiet thuds. Lisa wouldn't think twice about it if it weren't for Jackson suddenly stopping to gawk at whoever just entered. His expression catches everyone's attention and they all slowly turn to see who he is looking at.

It's the Park twins.

Something in Lisa's chest constricts painfully. It would make so much sense for Jackson and Roseanne to meet and fall in love right now, when they're having a conversation about how Jackson wants to find the one. The universe acts in strange ways when it comes to these things, usually to the point that it's comical.

Except it's really not funny, how much Lisa's chest hurts. She touches it absentmindedly, wondering if this is what an upcoming heart attack feels like.

No more milkshakes for her.

"Wow. She's stunning." Jackson breathes and Lisa's head bobs in a nod, because he's absolutely right.

Roseanne has changed into a pair of dark blue shorts and a crop top. Her waist is noticeably tiny, probably small enough that Lisa could fit both her hands around it, but her hips jut out quite attractively. Not to mention her legs, which are so much longer than Lisa realized. Seriously, how does she-

Lisa bites her tongue. Hard. She tastes metal and snaps herself out of whatever trance she's in. It's natural to check out other people, especially as a teenager, but her soulmate is right next to her.

She needs to get it together.

So what if Roseanne is