┊┊┊┊ ➶ ❁۪ ｡˚ ✧

┊┊┊┊ ➶ ❁۪ ｡˚ ✧

Sharing a house with your best friends sounds absolutely fun. Until it's time for the weekly clean-up of said house. Especially if it's a seven bedroom, seven bathroom 250m² spacious house.

Throwing the pack of garbage bags onto the white kitchen counter, Lee Heereum lifts her head and yelled out a loud scream. "I don't want to clean this mess anymore!" Her voice echoed through the walls of the traditional looking Korean house.

"Stop yelling, it won't make this faster" her brother, Lee Heeseung, said with a soft voice, coming from the pantry with a bucket and a mop. "Just go around and collect all the trash from the bedrooms, please" he said looking at his younger sister.

Heereum rolled her eyes. "I think it's unfair to clean the house while Jungwon's at school" the black haired woman muttered walking into the ground floor bedroom. The room belonged to her brother.

The room was quite messy with clothes and blankets lying everywhere. The nastiest thing was the pile of Ramyeon bowls on Heeseung's desk. Heereum shook her head and started collecting all the trash from the gamer room of her brother.

Lee Heereum was nineteen years old and lead singer and guitarist of a cover band called GROWING UP IN SEOUL. She and her band mates had quite a following on YouTube and TikTok which caused them to not have to work a "proper" job, like Heereum's mother wanted her to do.

The band gained enough money through ads, collaborations with widely known companies or simple through product placements in the music videos of their covers. It was enough for the four-membered group to live a comfortable life and share a massive house in the middle of Seoul, South Korea.

Heereum not only shared this gorgeous looking house with her older brother but also with her band members Kim Sunoo, Ahn Yujin and their maknae Yang Jungwon. Their manager Choi Yeonjun also occupied a room in this house.

Quietly cleaning the mess in her brothers room, Heereum continued to hum a song she picked up at the grocery store earlier. She couldn't remember what song it was, but it got stuck in the mind of the nineteen year old musicians head.

Leaving her brothers room she walked past Yujin, who carried a laundry basket in her arms. Ahn Yujin had been her best girl friend since they started high school back in 2019. Heereum had always looked up to Yujin for her leading skills and for how talented she was at playing guitar. So it was no wonder Yujin joined her band.

The two girls had been inseparable from that day.

"If I have to pick up one more pair of boxer briefs from the floor" Yujin said, while walking past Heereum, "one of these men is going to get their balls ripped out. Is it that hard to throw your used underwear into the laundry basket and not behind it?"

Heereum chuckled. "I'm sorry you're on laundry duty today, Yu" Heereum said, walking up the stairs. "I rather pick up our period underwear than that." Yujin shuddered and walked towards the laundry room, while Heereum climbed the stairs to the first floor.

Heereum and Yujin were the only girls living in the house. They already grew a thick skin being around lazy men all the time—especially Heeseung, even if nobody openly called him lazy.

But sometimes being surrounded by boys only was a difficult task. They didn't understand the thought process in Heereum and Yujin's heads when a decision were to be made. Heeseung often claimed he was the leader of this whole house, trying to lead everyone the way he wanted them to live. But Heeseung only lived with GUIS. He wasn't an active part of the band.

Nishimura Riki, who didn't even live with them, had more sayings into what the band was doing than Heeseung.

Heereum entered Yujin's bedroom. It was on the first floor and the definition of a girls bedroom. Its walls were painted pink and she had a canopy bed, covered in milky white sheets. Her bed was already stripped off its bed sheets and the mattress laid naked in front of Heereum's eyes.

Over the canopy were fairy lights—turned off for now. And the walls were covered in framed artworks of Coco Chanel or Audrey Hepburn. Looking at Yujin's bedroom, no one would guessed the eighteen year old Virgo was part of a rock band. Her room looked like one of those Pinterest-y rooms.

Heereum loved Yujin's room. It spread warmth and coziness and the two girls often met in Yujin's room to continue watching their dramas together or just disappear for a while, when the boys were becoming too much once again.

Heereum quickly picked up all the trash in Yujin's room and left the room, walking into the bedroom of their bassist. The rooms owner was still in it, trying to put new bed sheets on his loft bed.

"Need a hand?" Heereum asked while walking into the room and smiling at her BFF. Kim Sunoo was eighteen years old and one hell of a bassist—currently stuck on top of his bed. "That would be greatly appreciated, Reum" the boy chuckled and Heereum smiled and put the garbage bag to the side.

With a few steps she had crossed the grey walled bedroom and stood in fron of a white wooden loft bed. Sunoo sat on top of it, trying to get the fitted sheet over his mattress and mattress topper.

"It was wrong of me to buy the ten centimeter thick topper" the pink haired boy cried out, while Heereum climbed the stairs of the bed. "Stop whining, Sun" she said and grabbed the end of the mattress, trying to keep the topper and mattress still.

They took almost ten minutes to put the sheet over the bed. Heereum would lie if she'd say she didn't break a sweat. The two of them stared at the mattress in disbelief. Sunoo smiled carefully and looked at his best friend, his life line.

"I should've listened to Yeonjun-hyung when he told me this was going to end as a disaster" Sunoo said quietly, "but I wanted to have a loft bed and the topper is so cozy!" Heereum chuckled and gently nudged her best friend before grabbing her trash bag and collected the trash in Sunoo's room.

Sunoo's room looked like an IKEA showroom. Fairy lights over his loft bed and a few of his older basses, that he didn't play anymore mounted onto the wall. A framed Nirvana and Jimi Hendrix poster were over his desk and a bass stand was next to it.

On the stand Sunoo's newest addition to his collection and current favorite bass to play: a pink Fender Flea Signature USA E-bass he had bought for 2.878.729₩. It was his most expensive bass he'd ever got, but the sounds he managed to create with this instrument were worth more than any money.

Thankfully Yujin and Sunoo's rooms weren't as disgusting as Heeseung's. But Heereum knew she still had to get the room of their manager, Choi Yeonjun, and their Maknae/drummer Yang Jungwon.

Entering the room of their manager, a smile crept onto Heereum's lips. Choi Yeonjun was a tidy and neat man. His desk was tidy, his bed was stripped off its old sheets and the new ones laid tidy on top of it and the bin wasn't filled to the brim with trash. She quickly collected the trash, when her eyes fell upon the open scheduler on Yeonjun's desk.

Written there, in dark red ink, stood the release date of their next single and their next concert. Giddiness spread throughout Heereum's body thinking about playing a live audience once again. Their last gig had been four months ago.

Playing live was something Heereum never thought she would start loving. But standing on a stage, looking down to the happy faces of their fans made her feel alive. Seeing the audience sing along to the songs and cheering for them as if they were worldwide known K-Pop Idols was crazy.

To think GROWING UP IN SEOUL started as a sole hobby still seemed unreal to Heereum.

She quickly finished collecting the trash in Yeonjun's room before going into the room of their Maknae. Yang Jungwon was in his last year of high school and a talented young drummer. He had rhythm in his blood and shone the brightest when he was sitting behind his sky blue drum set.

When playing live, Jungwon often turned into a freaking animal, poking out his tongue and swirling his drum sticks around. Sometimes he pointed at who knows who in the crowds and the fans went crazy.

Jungwon definitely caught the attention of a lot of younger girls, who were drawn to their concerts like moths to light. They would scream Jungwon's name and the eighteen year old would ravel in all the attention. It was cute.

Jungwon's room was messy. But not as nasty-messy as her brothers room. Jungwon's desk was covered in text books, mangas and drum sticks. On the floor in front of Jungwon's drawer closet laid a skateboard. And Heereum knew the drawer in his nightstand was filled to the brim with broken drumsticks. She had no idea how often she had told the Aquarius to throw them away, but Jungwon was attached to them.

He could tell you which drum stick broke at which concert or band practice.

The last room Heereum had to clean was her own. Her room was on the second floor and was chaotically organized. Above the headboard of her queen sized bed were LPs from various artists like Harry Styles, Nirvana, The 1975 and more.

Her wardrobe was messy and untidy, but here and there a few pieces of black clothing stuck out from the drawers. Heereum definitely had to clean this up and sort out the clothes once.

Due to GUIS having collaborations with brands they often got presents. Especially clothes. 75% of Heereum's wardrobe was made of presents from brands that wanted to work with them. Heereum didn't mind getting free clothes, especially grungy stuff she loved to wear. But sometimes the clothes were all over the place.

She definitely had to go through them once she had time.

On Heereum's nightstand were two notebooks. One was her diary and one was her band diary. She jotted down songs she wanted to cover or re-make into them. Sometimes an idea for an original song stole its way into this book as well, but mostly things dedicated for GUIS.

She quickly took out the trash and waddled through the house to collect the trash of the bathrooms before walking outside and discarding the bags into the recycling bins outside. It was a warm day in early May and the spring sun shone brightly down onto Heereum.

She stood there for a while, just thinking about how her life did a full one-eighty when their band won second place at Hanlim's battle of the bands. When they won the prize money, they immediately put every single cent into their band and now they were having small gigs and playing festivals.

Their music was thriving. Their covers were streamed as if they were original songs and Heereum was proud of what her life had become. She was only nineteen years old and already successful in what she loved.

When Heeseung and her were small, their parents gifted them both a guitar. Both kids immediately started taking an interest in music and while Heeseung was more interested in ballads or K-Pop, Heereum started to show an interest in alternative rock music.

Heereum stretched towards the sun, like a cat before stepping back into the house. She didn't come far, as a voice called her, "Hey attagirl". Turning to the source of the voice a smile spread onto her lips.

"You're already back from work?" Heereum asked and opened the gate for the older male. "Yeah, I couldn't let y'all do the chores by yourself. How's it coming around?" Choi Yeonjun asked and stepped into the gate immediately followed by Heereum, who closed it behind her.

"We're almost finished. Yujin's currently doing the laundry and she's pissed" a chuckle left Heereums lips as she kicked off her shoes and followed Yeonjun into the house. "Wow, you didn't lie" Yeonjun smiled and walked over to the living room. Heeseung was already lounging on the couch, watching a tv show.

Heereum rolled her eyes at her brother and pushed his legs off the couch. "Aren't you supposed to be at college or something?", she asked and Heeseung mocked her tone. "Ever heard of online classes?"

Heereum sat down next to Heeseung. "Where's Sun and Yu?" Yeonjun asked, sitting down on one of the other cushiony sofas. "Sunoo's vacuuming upstairs and Yujin's in the laundry room." Yeonjun nodded, a bright smile on his face.

"Sunoo, Yujin head over here now!" Yeonjun called and a few seconds later a stressed looking Yujin entered the living room, plopping down next to Heereum and laid her head on the lead singers shoulder.

Sunoo waddled into the room after Yujin and sat down next to Heeseung. He looked tired and his face was puffy. "Hey Hyung, you're already home" the Cancer boy said and Yeonjun nodded.

"So y'all know that we release I Wanna Dance With Somebody really soon right?" He looked at Sunoo, Yujin and Heereum and all three of them looked at him with an obvious look on their face. "I managed to get us onto the lineup for Rock at Hangang!" Yeonjun looked at the band members and Heereum widened her eyes.

"Are you saying we're going to perform on the same stage as 5 Seconds of Summer and One Ok Rock?", she asked and Yeonjun nodded. "Isn't this amazing?!", he waved his hands around and Yujin jumped up and screamed. "How did you manage to do this?", she asked and Yeonjun winked at her. "I have my connections."

Heereum smiled brightly. "We have to tell Jungwon! He's going to be over the moon when he hears he plays the same stage as Ashton Irwin!" Heereum went to rush out of the room when her brother called her back.

"Wait a second" he said and GUIS looked at the 01-liner. "I know y'all are super excited about this gig but don't y'all have to ask your parents first? Especially Jungwon? He's still a minor. And if you're taking Riki with y'all you have to ask for his parents permission as well."

Yujin groaned. "As if the Yang's won't allow Jungwon to play. They even allow Jungwon to live here if he still manages to keep up his grades. Riki lives in a boarding school, so I don't think his parents will have anything against him working backstage with us."

Heeseung only shook his shoulders. "Y'all should be prepared for anything!"

"Then why don't you join us as a roadie for Rock at Hangang?" Heereum asked. "You said you don't know if Riki's allowed to help so why don't you and your friends help?" Heereum looked at her older brother who only chuckled.

"As if I'd—"

"That's actually a great idea!" Yeonjun added. "We need as many hands as we can get. Especially when preparing the stage and the instruments. I'll text you the details of the gig so you can invite your friends to help." Yeonjun smiled and stood up.

"I'll have to make a few calls to finalize our performance for Rock at Hangang. Y'all should write a provisory setlist, Reum" said Yeonjun and walked out of the living room. "Dinners on me tonight" he called before disappearing into the hallway.

Heereum looked at her brother. "Looks like you just became a GUIS roadie" she smiled and stood up. "Let's go downstairs and work on ideas for the setlist until Jungwon comes back. And we have to text Riki to see if he can join."

With these words the three 03-liner left Heeseung in the living room. The college student only sighed. There's only a speck of fun in house-sharing. Especially if you share it with your little sister and their band members.

— ❄︎ —

𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠!

𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞.

𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮.

—𝕤𝕟𝕠𝕨𝕗𝕝𝕒𝕜𝕖𝕤𝕠𝕟𝕞𝕪𝕝𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕠𝕡